A helicopter flew over the City Ground Stadium, crossed the Trent River, and turned back. Looking down from the helicopter, the City Ground Stadium on the south bank of the Trent River was packed with people, crowding the surrounding roads.
The walkie-talkie on his shoulder made a static noise from time to time. A police officer looked up at the helicopter flying over his head and then looked away.
A group of Forest fans sang as they passed by him.
"Forest, Forest! We're Nottingham Forest! "
"Forest, Forest! We're Nottingham Forest! "
The singing came at him from all directions, and passed through him into the City Ground Stadium not far ahead.
"Forest, Forest, we're Nottingham Forest …" The policeman also hummed softly.
"… Buzz buzz … 0415, report the situation on your side. Over … Pipa … "A static sound came from the walkie-talkie.
"This is 0415. Everything is normal. Over."
"Forest, Forest, we're invincible! Forest, Forest, we're Nottingham Forest … "The policeman hummed as he turned around and switched on the radio in the car.
"… We can see that the buses of both teams have stopped outside the City Ground Stadium, and the players are coming down from the buses. An exciting game will be presented to you in 30 minutes! We'll meet again after the one-minute advertisement! "
※ ※ ※
“GOGOGOGO！” Kerslake shouted non-stop in the locker room. "Get nervous, this is the Champions League!" He urged the players to go out and warm up.
The players changed and ran out. No one dared to waste even a second in front of the boss. In fact, without the assistant manager's reminder, everyone knew what game it was. This season, the Forest team had greater ambitions than ever before.
When Tang En went out, he bumped into Wenger on the sidelines. The two even stood together and chatted for a while.
"I'll get tired of seeing you three times a week."
Wenger laughed. "I don't like seeing your face either."
"This game schedule is bullsh * t … Right, before the game, I have to confirm something, Arsene."
"Hmm?"
"If I beat your Arsenal this season, will we still stand together and chat like this in the future?"
"Are you that confident?" Wenger did not answer his question. Instead, he looked at him and asked with interest.
"It's a possibility, isn't it?"
"Ha, we'll talk about it after you really beat me." Wenger turned around and left. He did not answer Tang En's question. This question was indeed difficult to answer. He was not the kind of person who could calmly accept the result of being defeated by his opponent and bless his opponent. He was also not willing to consider this question. Because once you think about it, that thing is like the seed of the devil, germinating in your heart. There would always be a shadow hovering in the depths of their hearts: Will we really lose?
Tang En looked at Wenger's back and laughed silently.
Fifteen minutes later, the team finished warming up and returned to the locker room.
Tang En looked at the players. His first sentence amused them. "Will anyone think that we're still playing in the league tournament?"
The locker room was filled with laughter.
"Arsenal, Arsenal, Arsenal … three times. I hope you won't get sick of it. Ah … "Tang En sighed." I know it's not easy to face three strong opponents in a row. But I'm sorry, I won't be considerate of you at this time. I won't say brainless stupid things like everyone just did their best and ask for a clear conscience. My request for you is very simple, and it has never changed. That is … "
Just as Tang En took a deep breath and was about to say that sentence, the players had already collectively roared, "Victory!"
Tang En was stunned. Then he smiled and snapped his fingers. "Looks like I'll have to change my lines in the future. That's right, victory. I don't want anything but victory. No matter how strong the opponent is, no matter how difficult our situation is, I only want victory. If you want to rest, then hold back your energy and finish off the opponents in front of you in one go. Take all the championship titles and then enjoy the holiday that belongs to you. But now is not the time to relax. "He paused for a moment.
He paused for a moment. "From today until … until the night of May 22nd, you have to maintain this fighting spirit. Don't relax for even a moment … "He lowered his head and fell silent again. He did not follow the momentum and shout to stir up the players' emotions.
Today's Boss must be a little strange in the eyes of the players.
There was a moment of silence. Everyone in the locker room waited for Tang En to speak again. Tang En finally raised his head and smiled at everyone. "Let's create a season that you'll never forget for the rest of your careers — the Treble."
When the last word came out of Tang En's mouth softly, the people who heard it suddenly felt their scalps go numb. There was a flame in their hearts that soared and burned fiercely.
The Treble!
What a fascinating future it was ….
The domestic league tournament, the number one domestic cup, and Europe's top cup. Three championships. Since Manchester United in 1999, there was no other team in Europe that could do it. Liverpool's claim that they had won the "Quintuple Crown" was just a joke. Barcelona, at its peak, had only won the league tournament and the Champions League. It had no chance to touch the Copa del Rey title.
That's right. It was precisely the difficulty of achieving the "Treble" and the crucial element of luck that reflected its greatness.
All the players' faces bloomed with a strange look and light, as if they had already seen that future.
On May 11th, they would bring the Premier League trophy back here. On May 17th, they would bring the FA Cup back here. And on May 22nd, they would bring the Champions League back here!
Just the thought of such a scene was enough to make one's blood boil.
When the players from both sides shook hands before the match, Fàbregas felt that George Wood's handshake was very firm, which made him a little happy.
He thought that Wood would have the same fighting spirit as him when facing him.
But in fact, when Wood thought of the "Treble" that Tang En spoke of, he also became a little excited …
※ ※ ※
"The match has already begun. Nottingham Forest has used their home advantage to launch a siege on Arsenal's goal. Their offense is very fierce. I completely did not expect them to attack here at the start of the match … "
The commentator was surprised by the Forest team's offensive attitude after the start of the match. Of course, he did not know that it was because of the goal that Tang En had mentioned before the start of the match. It dazzled the Forest players and raised their fighting spirit.
Wenger, sitting in the manager's seat, was not surprised by this. Although he did not know what Tang En had instilled in the Forest players before the match, this scene was within his plan.
He had told his players that the Forest team would definitely attack fiercely at the start of the match. It did not matter. Let them attack. When their offense weakened, the stadium would be the stage for Arsenal to perform to their heart's content.
When defending, the Forest team would definitely carry out a full-court press on Arsenal, which would greatly deplete their stamina. Therefore, even if Arsenal did not get any decent chances in the entire first half and did not score a goal, it was not important. As long as they depleted a large amount of Forest's stamina in the first half, their tactics would be half successful.
However, Wenger did not wait for the scene that he hoped to see.
In the 21st minute of the first half, Arsenal's own rear defensive line made a mistake. Sagna made a mistake in handling the ball under Fernández's pressure. The strength of his pass was too weak and was intercepted by Şahin midway. Following which, Şahin passed the ball straight to the front. Ibišević successfully reversed the offside position and easily sent the ball into the empty goal against the attacking Almunia.
This goal caused the City Ground stadium to boil.
Tang En stood up and hugged the people around him to celebrate. A stone was lifted from his heart.
"Super Ibišević!!" Loud cheers rang out in the stands.
The commentator was also excitedly announcing, "This is his 20th goal of the season! This Bosnian is Tony Twain's most trustworthy striker! "
The Forest team was celebrating their goal, but Wenger was unmoved in the away team's technical area. The Forest team's goal was also within his expectations …
After the Forest team scored, they took advantage of the situation to kill for a while. However, they were unable to attack Arsenal's city again. Arsenal stabilized their position after the 27th minute and began to counterattack.
They played their own football and controlled the football under their feet. Every time they passed the ball, it was amazing. Watching them play football was like watching a classical concert. The football flowed under their feet like musical notes, playing beautiful music one after another.
On the other hand, what about Nottingham Forest? They could only passively defend and run. They kept pressing in the front field and Arsenal used quick passes to deal with them. They tried their best not to let the football stop.
Fàbregas was the core of this tactic. He did not need to dribble the ball past several players and send the ball into the empty goal. He only needed to sit in the midfield and be in charge of the team's passing pivot. Whether it was forward or backward, left or right, everyone would pass the ball to him, and he was responsible for distributing the route of the football.
He was like a supercomputer. All the information that needed to be processed would be sent to him first and fed back after he processed it. He was the true core of Arsenal.
George Wood marked him in this game. This made Fàbregas even more motivated. There was a time when he almost did not let the football stay under his feet for more than a second. He always observed the entire team's movement and the opponent's position before he received the ball. After the football was passed over, he directly sent the football away, leaving Wood to pounce on empty air.
Even the commentator gave all the praises to Fàbregas, "Watching his movement and passing is a kind of artistic enjoyment. Every move of his may seem casual, but it is closely related to the situation on the field. All the movements of Arsenal and the opponent are under his control. Even George Wood can do nothing to him! … Turn and pass! Sagna plugged in through the gap! How did he see the situation behind him? It's amazing! So beautiful! Even though he has Wilshere, the best young midfielder in England, he is still far behind compared to him! "
Fàbregas himself also enjoyed this feeling. Every time he saw Wood pounce on him after he passed the football out, he would smile in his heart.
Arsenal's performance during this period was also very good. Their passing and cutting coordination was dazzling and praiseworthy. Unfortunately, they did not break the goal guarded by Akinfeev, because no matter how beautiful the passing was, it could not end the battle. "Arsenal likes to pass the football into the goal" was always an exaggeration. In the end, they still had to rely on shooting to score.
Carlos Vela was very flexible, but he was a little too thin and weak. He could not take advantage of the Forest team's penalty area. Van Persie did not seem to bring his shooting boots today, and his shooting accuracy was always a little off.
Finally, near the end of the first half, Fàbregas suddenly did not pass the ball, but shot in front of Wood!
Fortunately, Akinfeev was focused and tried his best to save the football, preventing Arsenal from equalizing the score before the end of the first half.
"When Arsenal's strikers are unreliable, Fàbregas will step up himself. It's a pity that this shot … almost scored. "
The commentator was very regretful. In the first half, both sides played well for half of the time. In the end, only one goal was scored. It was really a little unsatisfying … Especially Arsenal's offensive cooperation in the last period of time, it looked as comfortable as drinking afternoon tea and taking a nap under the warm sun. It was a pity that this afternoon tea lacked a plate of freshly baked cookies. Just drinking tea was really boring.
※ ※ ※
During halftime, Tang En praised the team's performance in the first half of the first half, but he did not criticize the team's performance in the second half. He felt that it was because Arsenal's performance was too good, and he had to make a countermeasure against it. If Arsenal were to continue playing like this, the Forest team's goal would be breached sooner or later.
"George, you still did not mark Fàbregas tightly enough. You can't let him pass the ball in front of you so easily … The number of fouls you committed in the first half can be counted on one hand. " Tang En raised five fingers. "Look at the jersey he was wearing when he came off the field. It was as clean as if he had just taken it from the laundry. This is simply a disgrace to you, George! "
Tang En was not unhappy with the team, but he was not polite to Wood.
Wood did not make a sound. He had already accepted Tang En's criticism.
"In the second half …" Tang En muttered to himself. "If Arsenal continues to play like this … we'll shrink our defense and let them pass the ball outside. After all, we have a goal in our hands."
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