Before the game between Nottingham Forest and Norwich City, the media scrambled to report such a piece of news:
Carl Spicer, the host of Sky TV's "Football Matters …", appeared on the show last night in a bald appearance. Spicer, who had already confirmed that he had lost the bet with Tony Twain, was willing to accept his loss and shaved his head. Mr. Carl Spicer became the second public figure to lose a bet with Tony Twain. The first was Mark Lawrenson, who lost his beard. His beard had not grown out until now …
For Spicer, it was certainly a scandal. But for Sky TV, it was a good thing. Because they could use this opportunity to further promote the show's reputation. So, before the show, they publicized everywhere that Carl Spicer would appear in a "new look" on the show later that night. The show that day set a new high in viewership.
Twain did not forget to sprinkle salt on the wound. He mocked Spicer in his column, "He should be thankful that he insisted on making this bet with me. I heard that their viewership skyrocketed. That's all thanks to me. I think Sky TV should seriously consider giving me a bonus. "
In the away team's locker room, the Forest players celebrated Ibišević's 20th goal in the season. But he was not in the starting lineup for this game.
The media knew the starting lineup list a day ago. Tony Twain was going to make a rotation. There was nothing to hide about it.
The striker who replaced Ibišević in the starting lineup was not Eastwood or Agbonlahor. Instead, it was the young player, Aaron Mitchell. This was his first appearance in the starting lineup for Nottingham Forest in an official game.
Such an arrangement was not unexpected. After all, Nottingham Forest would face a strong opponent, Barcelona, at home next week. There was really no need to send their strongest lineup against an opponent like Norwich City.
Aaron Mitchell might think that this day was the most memorable day of his career. Because when he was still a center back, he never thought that he could be a member of Nottingham Forest and represent the team in the league so soon.
But Twain did not give this lucky kid any special treatment. What he said to the whole team was also what he wanted to say to this kid.
"I don't know if you'll feel that your feet are in deep water when you walk onto the field later?"
The players laughed. For the past half a week, they had been training on that terrible training ground. On the first day, three of them were injured, including Eastwood. Fortunately, they had warmed up well, so they were not seriously injured. In order to save time, Tang En even rushed to the away game on the morning of the game. For the sake of the Champions League, he was ready to give up the league tournament.
"The quality of the turf in Norwich City's stadium is definitely not as good as that in Camp Nou, but it must be much better than our training ground. Don't forget your body's memories because of this place. To be honest, I won't give you any pressure in this match. It doesn't matter whether you win or lose. Just treat it as if you're still training in that crappy training ground. Preserving your body's memory is your only mission in this match. "
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After the game started, the Nottingham Forest players showed a state that surprised the outsiders. This was no longer a matter of whether it was slow or not. It was as if the Forest players collectively did not know how to play football, and their performance was quite clumsy.
In the simplest sense of running, the football was clearly closer to the Forest players. Under normal circumstances, the ball would definitely be taken by the Forest team.
But in this game, the Nottingham Forest players seemed to be unable to run. They looked weak from the start, and they could not keep up with the Norwich City players in the middle of the run. They could only watch helplessly as the football was taken away by the opponent.
"I really suspect that the Forest players collectively went out to visit prostitutes last night. Otherwise, how can they explain the phenomenon of their legs being weak?" The commentator also felt that such a Forest team was a little ugly.
"The desire to win is not strong, and there's something wrong with their bodies. What was Tony Twain training for three days in seclusion? "
"Only God knows …"
Aaron Mitchell was substituted after 65 minutes in the starting lineup. Due to the team's inexplicable "slump" on the field, his own personal performance was not very ideal. He did not play well with the header and footwork techniques that he was good at. On the contrary, because his body was slightly thin, he was also at a disadvantage in the physical confrontation with the opponent's center back.
Ibišević, who was substituted, did not appear to be in a better state. This made it even more difficult for the commentator to understand — "Why is Nottingham Forest in such a bad state from the starting lineup to the substitutes? Are they under some kind of sorcery? "
In the end, everyone was in a bad state and could not find their game form on the field. Nottingham Forest, as if they did not know how to play football, unexpectedly lost to Norwich City 0: 1 in the away game. It was the biggest upset in this round of the league tournament. Before this, Norwich City was in last place and almost certain to be relegated.
After the game, in the mixed zone, the Nottingham Forest players who lost became the target of the media's pursuit. All the reporters wanted to ask the Forest players one question: "Can you explain your poor performance in this game?"
Most of the players, perhaps in a bad mood because of the loss, refused to answer the question. Even if a few of them answered, it was tantamount to saying nothing. "It's hard to say about the form. We feel fine, but when it comes to the game, there's a problem, so we don't know what exactly went wrong."
Well, these players were clearly unwilling to cooperate with the reporters' work. Perhaps they themselves felt that their performance was too bad and were ashamed to answer such questions. So, the reporters turned to the scene of the post-game press conference, intending to hear what Twain had to say. According to usual practice, Tony Twain must be furious when his team played such a bad game.
But what did they see at the scene?
Tony Twain smiled as he sat in front of a row of microphones, speaking frankly about the game that had just ended.
"Football is like this. You can never say that because we are strong, we deserve to win. Nor can you celebrate the victory in advance before the game starts. No one knows what the result will be until the last second. I'm really sorry about the result of this game. "
Could anyone see the slightest "sorry" expression on his face?
"The team is not in form, and I'm also angry."
Was he really angry? "Smiling and angry"?
"Finally, I want to congratulate Mr. Glenn Roeder. His team played a beautiful game." Twain stood up and shook hands with Roeder, who looked pleased with himself next to him. The two men could be considered to have quite a history — Twain's debut opponent was West Ham, led by this man. At that time, he showed his "big mouth talent" for the first time at the press conference. Not only did he successfully curse West Ham's relegation, but he also let himself know for the first time where the English Football Association's door was opened.
Now, eight years later, Mr. Roeder appeared in front of Twain again after experiencing a heart attack and cerebral thrombosis. But this time, he was neither the West Ham manager nor the caretaker manager of Newcastle. He had become the manager of the newly promoted Norwich City. Last season, he led the team to qualify for promotion. This season, he was likely to lead the team back to the English Football League Championship. At this critical time, to be able to defeat a strong opponent, Nottingham Forest, was naturally a timely help.
Unfortunately, even so, he could not become the main character at the press conference. Instead, Twain, who lost the game, became the focus of attention. If Twain had not taken the initiative to stand up to shake hands with him and congratulate him, he did not know how long he would have to wait for the attention of the reporters.
After the game, Norwich City's victory over Nottingham Forest became a big upset, but the media's analysis of why Nottingham Forest suddenly could not find their form appeared in a prominent position. Poor Mr. Glenn Roeder …
Some people said that this was Twain's rotation in preparation for the game against Barcelona. But with the strength of the Forest team, even if it was a full rotation, it should not be defeated against a team of Norwich City's level, right?
There were also people who said that the away loss to Barcelona had a profound impact on Nottingham Forest. Cracks had appeared in their originally impregnable locker room, and Tony Twain, who only knew how to jump up and scold people, could no longer control the star players under him. Today's Nottingham Forest was like a plate of loose sand. After losing two games in a row, their morale had hit rock bottom. Barcelona's chance had come.
Furthermore, Twain's abnormal performance at the post-game press conference showed that after he lost control of the team, he had also fallen out with the club's top management. He was completely smashing the can. There were already rumors that once they lost to Barcelona, Tony Twain would be kicked out of Wilford. And the Manchester United Football Club had privately signed an agreement with Twain. When he left Nottingham Forest, he would immediately go to Manchester United to take up his post.
These rumors were half-true and half-false. Some simply could not withstand scrutiny, and some seemed to have some truth to them. The true and the false were mixed together, and the readers could not distinguish the truth at all. They could only be led by the nose by the media.
Twain chose to be silent about these media reports. Nottingham Forest also chose to be silent. Like a nuclear submarine diving into the deep sea, they lay dormant in the dark, so that the enemy could not figure out their movements or what they wanted to do.
The only trouble was that there were also people among the Nottingham Forest fan base who believed these rumors. After all, that game was really ugly, almost as bad as the game they lost to Bolton Wanderers at home that year. And Tony Twain uncharacteristically did not lose his temper. It was no wonder that some Forest fans thought the wrong way.
But from this point of view, Nottingham Forest did a really good job of keeping it a secret.
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While the rumors about Tony Twain's imminent dismissal continued to spread outside, the Nottingham Forest players also continued to train on that rotten field. After the "destruction" of the past few days, that field was even worse.
But this did not have much of an impact on the training, because Nottingham Forest did not carry out any ground coordination training. This week, the focus of the team's training was in the air — — long passes.
The attacking players in the front field were asked to handle the ball as simply and as quickly as possible after they received it. In fact, many players did think so at the beginning, but when they saw that the ball they passed could not roll to where they wanted it to go on this kind of field, they all gave up on this unrealistic idea.
To put it bluntly, the only trick to playing football on this kind of uneven field with uneven grass was to minimize the contact between the football and the ground. Therefore, high balls were the way to go.
When the defenders received the ball, if there was someone marking them, then they must drive forward with a big foot. When the two defensive midfielders switched between offense and defense, they did not use short passes, but long passes. The side midfielders frequently made diagonal passes at a 45-degree angle, instead of passing from the byline. Then, they placed a tall center forward who excelled in headers at the very front. Wherever the tall center forward was, the football would be passed there. In addition, they would practice the tactics of set pieces. Whether it was offense or defense, set pieces would become the most important part of that game. Because Twain knew very well that his tactics would probably not give them more direct shooting opportunities. If they wanted to score, they would need other methods. Set pieces were the best option.
The Nottingham Forest players would not be too unfamiliar with this set of tactics, nor would they think it was something new that their boss came up with on a whim. Because even when the Forest team played the most beautifully, they could see this kind of "efficient football," or the representative of "ugly football," in their tactics. Otherwise, why would the media always scold them?
The Nottingham Forest coaches would not be surprised. Because Tony Twain's initial success in the Forest team was based on efficient football and the theory of "useless ball control." It was only later that he revised his tactics bit by bit, making the Forest team's playing style richer and better. But this time, Twain displayed the theory of "useless ball control" to the extreme, going to a famous extreme — POMO (Positions of Maximum Opportunity), which meant "the theory of the position with the greatest opportunity." It was also the famous set of "English long passes."
Almost all the English coaches knew and were familiar with this theory, because it was created by Charles Hughes, the man who had the greatest influence on English football in the last century. He used his position as the technical director of the English Football Association from the 1960s to the 90s to promote it wantonly. It was the main culprit behind the slow development of English football's technical style and was even regressing.
This was a classic example of "an armchair strategist" in football. The theory was impeccable, but the actual situation was completely different. It was not the same thing at all. Since that was the case, why did Twain suddenly decide to use such an extreme tactic?
Since POMO had been promoted in England for 30 years and had a far-reaching influence, it must have its redeeming qualities, no matter how small. George Graham's Arsenal achieved success in the early 1990s, even though they played rough football that even the Arsenal fans themselves were tired of. But they won the championship, and that was the redeeming quality.
The terrible field was clearly very suitable for the use of long passes. Twain said that he would do anything to win, so it was not a big deal to let the "notorious" POMO be resurrected on Nottingham Forest for a short time.
The winner would smile even if he was scolded, and the loser would not feel happy no matter how much praise he received.
The Catalan media always attacked Twain for one reason — the football he played was ugly and full of the stench of utilitarianism. He was England's biggest football hooligan.
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