Even when he played for Nottingham Forest in an official league game for the first time, Aaron Mitchell did not feel that he was so valued.
In this week, he was the center of attention for the tactical training, technical training, set-piece training, strength training and physiotherapy off the field. The attention was not the kind of childish questions that the coaches would kindly ask him if he was happy. Instead, the intensity of the training increased, and he would be reprimanded by the coaches if he made the slightest mistake.
Take the strength training for example. From the day he was transferred to the First Team, he was told that he needed to strengthen his strength training to enhance his ability to fight. But this week, the coaching staff was stricter. Fortunately, the physiotherapy after every day was also enhanced. Otherwise, he really wondered if he could persevere.
The situation suddenly improved two days before the Champions League game in midweek. When he was about to go to the gym to continue training his strength after the training, he was stopped by Dunn.
"You don't have to train your strength today, Mitchell."
"But I'm fine. I think …" Mitchell was a little surprised. He had not reacted yet.
"You don't have to train tomorrow either." Dunn smiled at him. "You have to rest well these two days."
Mitchell was confused. He realized that although the China assistant manager spoke in English, he could not understand the meaning at all.
Dunn looked at Mitchell's confused face and was a little troubled. It was reasonable to say that without Tony's approval, he could not reveal the starting lineup to the players in advance. But the kid was really cute. He had worked hard to complete the tough training these days. Maybe as an extra reward … it was nothing?
"Yes, Mitchell. You'll be in the starting lineup for the game the day after tomorrow. "
Mitchell nodded and looked as if he was not surprised. But then he reacted. He almost jumped up and stared at the assistant manager in front of him. "What did you say, Mr. Dunn?"
Dunn stopped talking and just looked at him with a smile.
"I'm not dreaming, am I, Mr. Dunn?"
Dunn shook his head. "Have a good rest these two days. Also, don't tell anyone. "
Mitchell immediately made a gesture of nodding with his hand covering his mouth. After thanking Dunn, he ran away happily.
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Aaron Mitchell's father was an ordinary worker and a loyal fan of Nottingham Forest. That was why he sent his son to the Forest football academy. When his son was selected by Tang En into the First Team, he was elated for many days and told everyone he met that his son was a football star. His son, on the other hand, was not so excited. He understood the competition in the team very well, and he always poured cold water on his father, telling him not to expect too much. Every time this happened, the father would take out the dignity of an elder and raise his hand to scare his son. "You'd better grow up! A player who doesn't want to be a star player isn't a good player. Which French bastard said that? "
Compared to the excited father, the son seemed to be more mature. However, the situation had changed today.
From the moment he entered the door, his son had been deliberately hiding a smile on his face.
"Good afternoon, Dad!"
"It's almost evening. Good afternoon?" His father was doing carpentry in the garden and replied without raising his head. "Did you train hard?"
"Not bad!"
"Don't always say that. I thought you didn't train in the team at all." He bit the nail in his mouth, so it was difficult for him to speak. But as his son, he could understand.
"Very good!"
"That's more like it …"
"Where's Mom?"
"She's making dinner."
"Hehe." Mitchell suddenly laughed. It scared his father so much that his hand trembled. He almost hurt his finger when he dropped the hammer.
"Hey! You little brat! "His father was about to show his authority when he realized that his son had disappeared. He stood rooted to the ground for a while. "What's wrong with this kid today?"
During dinner, his father and mother did not focus on their dinner. Instead, they stared blankly at their son's giggling face.
Finally, his father broke the strange silence.
"Aaron, do you have a girl that you like?"
Mitchell found it strange that his father would suddenly ask such a question. He shook his head. "Never. Don't you know that, Dad? It's not easy to find someone with my height … "
It was indeed difficult to find a normal girlfriend with a height of 2.02m. When a girlfriend wanted to kiss him but found that oral sex was more convenient, it would be so awkward … So his father used to joke with his son that if he really wanted to find a girlfriend, he would probably have to go to the women's basketball team. But the members of the women's basketball team were a little … unsatisfactory.
"That's strange. You don't have a girlfriend, so why are you giggling? "
"Ah! That's because … "Mitchell almost told his parents that he would be starting in the Champions League, but he suddenly remembered that Dunn had specifically told him to keep it a secret when he told him the news. So, he changed his words at the last minute. "Nothing, I'm just happy. By the way, Dad, will you be watching the Champions League game live? "
"When has your dad not been to the City Ground stadium to watch the Forest team's game? Are you questioning my loyalty to the Forest team, kid? " "Hehe."
"Heh heh." Mitchell let out the laugh that made his father uncomfortable all over again. "That's good, that's good."
"Mitchell! Don't laugh like that anymore. You're not a girl! You're making me lose my appetite to eat! " As a father, he keenly felt that his son was hiding something from him, but he could not force his son to say it. A father's authority did not work on this point. It was really annoying …
"All right, all right, let's eat." His mother came out to ease the atmosphere.
Little Mitchell didn't care that his father was glaring at him. His mind wasn't on his father's reaction at all. His mind was full of the Champions League, the Champions League!
It was as if the music of the Champions League rang in his ears. He only felt his blood boil, and he was so excited that he had goosebumps. Tens of thousands of people were chanting his name. He was competing against the strong European teams, and he could not only appear in the insignificant time of the game. When he was a child, he had a dream of wearing the red jersey of Nottingham Forest and ascending to the top of Europe, and now it was not far from coming true.
His mother was also a little worried about her son's performance. Recently, the team seemed to have increased their training. Her son said he was tired when he came back a few days ago. She was afraid that Aaron was too tired.
"You'd better rest early, Aaron."
"Okay, Mom. I'll go rest after dinner. "
After dinner, Aaron pushed the cutlery, got up to say goodbye to his parents, and went upstairs.
The two adults were left looking at each other, not understanding what was going on.
As his father, he felt a little frustrated. He did not know what his son was thinking, which made him feel frustrated in front of his son.
His wife laughed when she saw him like that, "Our son has grown up and has a little secret."
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Mitchell lay in bed and forced himself to sleep, even though it was not even nine o 'clock in the evening. He could not sleep because he was too excited. Even if it was twelve o 'clock, he probably would not be able to sleep.
Until now, he still occasionally wondered if he had a dream, or if he was hallucinating at that time … If it was not Manager Dunn but Kerslake, he might really think that the other party was joking with him.
Playing in a Champions League game … What kind of feeling was that?
He had watched Champions League games on television and in person countless times, but he had never played in a game in person. Watching a game and playing a game were definitely two completely different feelings. How would he perform when the time came? If he was too nervous, he would not be able to play half of his original strength; or if he was too excited, he would not be able to play half of his original strength … Oh, he should not think about such a bad possibility!
…
"… The fourth official on the sidelines raised the sign for injury stoppage time. Three minutes of stoppage time! Loud boos rang out in the City Ground stadium. The second half was frequently interrupted because of fouls and substitutions, and there were actually only three minutes of stoppage time! This is really incomprehensible. "
"The current score is 0: 0. If this score is maintained until the end of the game, then Barcelona will successfully advance. This is clearly not what Manager Tony Twain wants to see. He stood on the sidelines and was constantly using hand signals to ask the team to press up and attack. There are only three minutes left for him. Can his team create a miracle? "
"Nottingham Forest has obtained a corner kick. Even the goalkeeper, Akinfeev, has rushed to the front of Barcelona's goal. This might be the Forest team's last attack! Aaron Mitchell is closely marked by three opposing defenders. As the tallest player on the field, his height and header are an important part of Nottingham Forest's set piece strategy. "
"The corner kick is taken … Aaron Mitchell jumps up! No one can stop him. The energy that has been held back for a game has exploded at this moment. He is taller than everyone else! Taller than Valdés's hands! A header! "
"GOOOOOAL — — GOOOOOAL — — GOOOOOAL!! GOAL！！！”
Mitchell jumped up from his bed and ran around the room with his arms outstretched. He did not forget to jump a few times and stomp his feet hard. At the same time, he did not stop saying "GOOOOOAL."
"Aaron Mitchell — —!!" There was a hurried knocking on the door and his father's exasperated curses. "What are you doing! You've shaken the dust off the ceiling into the soup! Do you need me to call you and send you to the hospital?! "
Mitchell turned a deaf ear to his father's angrily banging on the door. He was now in the City Ground stadium. At the last moment of the game, he used a powerful header to pull the team back from the abyss of hell. He also conveniently kicked Barcelona out of the game to fill in for the Forest team. Now he hugged his teammates around him. He hugged assistant manager Dunn who brought him the good news. He hugged everyone around him and vented his emotions to his heart's content. At this moment, he became famous with a single goal!
There was a loud bang. Seeing that there were no signs of it stopping, his father could not take it anymore. He slammed open the bedroom door and appeared in front of Mitchell. He was about to curse out loud when his son suddenly pounced on him and hugged him tightly. He even shouted in his ear, "Barcelona, go to hell! We've advanced! We've advanced! I'm a hero!! "
"You're the one who should go to hell!" His father, who was infuriated by his son, slapped the back of his head.
Mitchell, who was awakened by the slap, looked at his father in his arms in surprise. "Huh?"
"Do you think you're hugging a big-breasted beauty?" His father, who was in his arms, revealed a smile that made him shudder. He knew he was going to be out of luck …
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On the second day of training, Tang En noticed that Aaron Mitchell was not in good spirits. He was also not very focused on the training ground. He felt that it was strange. Mitchell's previous performance was not like this. He was always very diligent, serious, and focused during training. Otherwise, Tang En would not have arranged for him to play in the second round of the match against Barcelona. For him to take a fancy to someone, there would at least be no problem with his attitude.
Now that there was a problem with Mitchell's attitude, and it happened overnight … Tang En felt the need to talk to him alone. Another important reason was that if Mitchell was allowed to continue training in that state on the field, it would not be long before he sprained his ankle. Then, Tang En's plan would be completely ruined.
So, he walked to the side of the field and called Mitchell down alone, intending to ask him what was going on.
"Mitchell, did you not sleep well last night?" Tang En noticed that Mitchell's eyes were more bloodshot than usual.
"Uh, yes, Boss." Mitchell did not dare to lie to Tang En.
"Can you tell me the reason?"
Mitchell glanced at the expressionless Dunn standing next to the boss and wondered if he should tell the truth. Although Dunn told him not to tell anyone, Boss was the boss of the coaching staff. But Boss was the boss of the coaching staff. Coach Tang must have heard the news from Boss … No, maybe it was Boss who told Coach Tang. Then, there should be no problem telling Boss, right?
"Yeah … Manager Dunn told me yesterday that I'll be starting in the match against Barcelona …"
Tang En turned back to look at Dunn. The guy was still expressionless, as if the matter had nothing to do with him.
He decided to clear things up with Mitchell first before settling the score with Dunn.
"That's right. I've put you on the starting list." He then made a pressing motion with his hand. "But don't be happy too early. Look at your performance just now. Do you think you'll definitely be starting with that? There's still a day and a half before the match starts. I can change the starting list at any time. "
Mitchell's excited smile disappeared from his face again.
"I don't care how much you're looking forward to the match tomorrow night. But right now, you'd better get back on the training field and get back into training. Give me a hundred percent!" Tang En's expression was frighteningly serious. "If you're still so absent-minded, once you sprain your ankle, you'll have completely given up on that idea."
That sentence snapped Mitchell out of his reverie. To be absent-minded while training on such a field … was truly a dangerous thing to do.
"Did you tell anyone else about this?" Tang En asked in the end.
Mitchell hurriedly shook his head. Even when faced with his father's "torture" yesterday, he still did not tell the truth. Even his closest family members did so, not to mention that he was not a person who liked to be ostentatious.
Tang En smiled and clapped. "That's great. You've now avoided the possibility of embarrassing yourself in front of your friends."
Mitchell only felt a chill run down his spine. He knew that the Boss was not joking. If he did not perform well in training, he would definitely be taken off the starting list.
So, he ran back to his training and did not dare to have any messy thoughts anymore.
After dealing with Mitchell, Tang En turned to look at Dunn.
"I was thinking that as a reward for his hard training for so many days …" Dunn knew what he was going to ask, so he simply said it first.
"But you almost harmed him." Tang En's expression was still as serious as when he was with Mitchell earlier.
"Sorry, I didn't know …" Dunn also felt that he was in the wrong. Mitchell's performance was obvious to all. It was indeed because of his words that such a change occurred.
Tang En was not in a position to criticize his partner. After all, Dunn always did well most of the time and never made any mistakes. It was just that his heart was a little soft sometimes … just like a woman.
He comforted, "But it's fine. This incident is a valuable experience for him. His mentality is much better than before. This will be a great help for our match. "He said as he looked at Mitchell, who was working hard on the training field.
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