During the halftime interval, Arsenal made adjustments. Wenger brought off Wilshere and brought on Denilson. It looked like they had strengthened their defense, but it was actually to prepare for a counterattack. Unfortunately, the three-goal gap was too big. If Arsenal wanted to advance, they had to score four goals in forty-five minutes and ensure that they did not concede a single goal.
This was simply an impossible task.
Arsenal did threaten Forest's goal at the start of the second half. Unfortunately, good times were usually so short. They still could not shake Nottingham Forest's advantage from the first half. George Wood was indeed one of the strongest midfielders in England today. Fàbregas's passing errors began to increase under his marking, and his stamina was declining.
Although he could also pass those incisive balls, the whole team was beaten by the Forest team. What was the use of him being able to pass the ball alone?
This game was Arsenal's tactical failure. No matter how good Fàbregas was, it was useless.
When the second half was halfway through, Arsenal still did not score. Wenger already had a premonition that he would fail. He began to conserve his energy for the league tournament.
Fàbregas was still running on the field desperately, passing the ball or shooting himself. He was not willing to admit defeat at this time.
The Spaniard was a little impatient on the field, while Wood became more and more composed. The boss told him to keep an eye on Fàbregas, and he carried it out meticulously. As for who Fàbregas would pass the ball to, he did not care. Just like his teammates believed in him as their captain, he also believed in his teammates.
It was this tacit understanding that allowed Forest to turn the tables and take the initiative on the field.
In the second half of the second half, Arsenal had few chances. Forest, on the other hand, constantly threatened Almunia's goal. The Nottingham Forest fans had not seen such an easy game at Arsenal's home ground for a long time.
In the 80th minute, some Arsenal fans began to leave the field early. They no longer had any hope for this game. They could only comfort themselves by saying, "We still have the league tournament" as they left the field unwillingly.
Seeing that the outcome was set, Tang En also replaced a few players who were more tired recently. Bale was replaced by Joe Mattock, Bentley was replaced by Moke, and Ibišević was replaced by Agbonlahor.
Every player who was brought off the field hugged Tang En and celebrated their victory in high spirits.
With a 2: 0 lead and 10 minutes to go, Tang En did not think that there was a possibility of him losing.
He could return to Nottingham with a relaxed mood. He believed that Shania, who was in the private room, could breathe a sigh of relief.
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In the last ten minutes, Arsenal launched a frenzied counterattack against the Forest team's goal. They had almost given up the pursuit of victory, but the pride of a strong team made them unable to tolerate being shaved at home. They wanted to use the last moments to score a goal.
Unfortunately, the Forest team did not let them get what they wanted. The entire team returned to defend and blocked the goal tightly.
Fàbregas finally played the entire match and was not substituted early. Unfortunately, his efforts did not help the team win. He did not even score a goal to save face for the team.
When the referee blew the whistle to signal the end of the match, many of the Arsenal players collapsed on the pitch. Only their captain was still standing.
On the other side, the Forest team's substitutes, led by the assistant manager, cheered as they rushed onto the field and hugged their teammates on the field to celebrate.
On the other hand, Tony Twain straightened his clothes and strode towards Wenger with a smile on his face.
"What a shame," he said soothingly.
"I wish you good luck now, Tony. I hope you can fight your way into the finals. But, I won't give the league title to you again. " Wenger wanted to make himself look like a gentleman, but having just lost the Champions League title, he really could not smile.
Twain smiled and did not say anything.
Wenger shook hands with him and turned to walk away. Twain looked at his back and had something he did not say in his heart. Of course, I won't ask you to give me the championship title, Professor. I'll go get it myself.
After shaking hands with Wenger, Twain was surrounded by reporters.
"How does it feel to fight your way into the top four again, Mr. Twain?"
"It feels great!"
"Is your goal this season also the Champions League title?"
"Who doesn't want to be the champion?"
"Isn't it a surprise to win against Arsenal so easily?"
"No, the one who should be surprised is Arsenal, not me."
There were still reporters who wanted to ask questions, but Twain raised his hand to reject them. "If there are any more questions, ask at the press conference. I have to go and be with my team!"
He pushed through the crowd and walked to the field to celebrate the victory with the Forest players.
"What a big shot …" someone among the reporters muttered in a low voice.
"But he has the right to act like a big shot." Someone at the side shrugged. "Who asked him to be the winner?"
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Beating Arsenal and advancing to the semifinals had the Nottingham media hyping it enthusiastically for a few days. The Wilford training base was bustling with activity every day. There were hardcore fans who came to support the team, as well as the news media who came after hearing the news.
Forest, who had advanced to the semifinals, had good luck. Their semifinal opponent was not strong. It was the French Ligue 1 team, Lyon. On the other side was the El Clásico between Real Madrid and Barcelona.
This top four made the Spanish media very excited because they had two teams in the top four. The English Premier League, which had dominated the top four for a long time, was completely routed this season. In the end, only Nottingham Forest represented the English Premier League in the top four.
The foreign media rejoiced in this, claiming that the English Premier League was finally going to give up its position as the top league. The Spanish media even shouted that they were going to take the top spot. The Spanish media were the top league in Europe.
As always, the Italian and German media chose to remain silent.
The English media was unanimously optimistic about Arsenal before the game and cheered for Wenger's team. Now, like grass on the wall, they had switched to the embrace of Nottingham Forest, blowing Tang En's team as "the only hope of English football," "the fighter to defend the dignity of English football," and "the heir to the glory of English football."
Tang En did not care if he had been put on these big hats. He had to get his heart back in gear and prepare for the league tournament. Let's think about the Champions League when we get there.
Before the Champions League, Forest had already experienced the test of two strong teams. In the end, Chelsea and Arsenal had not been able to complete the task of stopping them. Tang En's team smoothly passed and was currently ranked second, one point ahead of third-place Liverpool and three points behind first-place Arsenal. Their goal difference and goals scored were lower than Arsenal's. Arsenal's chances of winning were still very high. Based on the latest English Premier League title odds set by William Hill, Arsenal was still favored.
In order to prove that his bet with Tang En was in the bag, Carl Spicer had analyzed the Forest team's weaknesses in his show. Regarding the competition schedule, he had said that Forest would face two strong teams and two weak teams. Forest had already fought against the strong teams. The weak teams would be the real test.
The two teams that were avoiding relegation had yet to escape the relegation circle. What was worse was that they had not been relegated in advance. This was a situation that any of their opponents feared. Teams that were in the relegation circle or on the edge could either be relegated to the English Football League Championship after three rounds of the league tournament or successfully avoid relegation at the last moment. It could be said that heaven and hell were separated by a thin line.
No one wanted to go to hell. Everyone wanted to go to heaven. It was the same for Tang En. If he helped others, he would go to hell himself. He was not the kind of saint or Buddha who loved all beings in the world and was willing to sacrifice himself for others. Therefore, it could be expected that these two games would be very intense and exciting.
These two games were in the 35th and 38th round of the league tournament.
In the 35th round, Forest would play against Portsmouth in an away game. In the 38th round, the last game of the league tournament would be against Sunderland at home.
If Nottingham Forest could beat Portsmouth and Sunderland could win, then the situation in the final round might not be so bad for both teams — Sunderland would have successfully avoided relegation, and Nottingham Forest would naturally not have to face an opponent that had to fight to the death for survival.
This was an ideal future, but Tang En did not think they would be so lucky.
In the 35th round, Sunderland's opponent was Manchester United. How could Manchester United let Sunderland off at home in order to compete for the Champions League? And Sunderland only had one home game in the final round of games. Two of the other three away games were against strong opponents. Their situation of avoiding relegation was much worse than Portsmouth's.
Therefore, the media had already sentenced Sunderland to death in advance. In comparison, Portsmouth only had a strong opponent in the last four rounds, the Forest team. They looked more like they could successfully avoid relegation.
Perhaps only Sunderland themselves did not give up. The local media kept cheering the team on, thinking that as long as they united, they would be able to create a miracle. There were even people who suggested that Sunderland bring back the former manager, Keane, because he had once created a similar miracle — the team was ranked last before he took over. After half a season, he led the team to successfully be promoted to the Premier League. This was also the only brilliant result that Keane could bring out as a manager. Later on, his coaching career did not go very smoothly, so such a proposal was completely desperate. Keane would not agree to come out and be a scapegoat.
There was one statement that seemed to make sense.
"… Tony Twain's team is currently fighting on three fronts. Their stamina is depleted and the players are under a lot of pressure. I don't think it's time for Sunderland to surrender. As long as we don't fall behind before the last round of games, we might still have a chance to fight against the exhausted Nottingham Forest … Think about it, the fatigue of fighting on three fronts in a row and the great pressure of having to win the league title, or their boss will eat a table … No team can play normally under such circumstances … "
But every piece of bad advice seems reasonable until it turns out to be bad.
In short, Sunderland was still in its death throes. Twain would not go easy on them just because he had loaned young players to them many times and had a good personal relationship with their former manager, Keane. Just as he would not go easy on Portsmouth, he did not care about any opponent except himself. As long as their team stood in front of him and became a stumbling block in his pursuit of victory, he would mercilessly kick it away.
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On April 19th, the 35th round of the league tournament, Nottingham Forest challenged Portsmouth in an away game.
Portsmouth did show the drive of a team to avoid relegation, but it seemed to have only shown eighty percent of it. Because of the news from Old Trafford, Sunderland trailed Manchester United in just three minutes of the game. Sunderland's trailing eased the pressure on Portsmouth. They wanted to win the game but were not willing to go all out. After all, there were still three rounds of the league tournament. If they used up all their resources with the Forest team, then they could only watch their opponent surpass them in the remaining three rounds and escape from hell.
It was a very dangerous thing to play against Nottingham Forest, who wanted to win and catch up with Arsenal, with such a conflicted mood.
The Forest players did not have so many complicated thoughts in their minds — they won this game, but what about the next game? They used up all their strength in this game, but what about the second half?
It was simple for them — they won this game, and they would continue to win the next game. They used up all their strength in this game, and they would continue to do so in the second half.
In the 25th minute, Nottingham Forest broke the deadlock with a long shot from Rafinha, and they led 1: 0.
Only then did the trailing Portsmouth increase their attack. Their manager roared on the sidelines, telling the team not to give up. Ten minutes later, Portsmouth used a corner kick to break through the goal guarded by Akinfeev. 1: 1.
This time, it was Twain's turn to be furious on the sidelines.
During the halftime interval, Twain replaced Tiago with Gago, who did not perform well, and continued to strengthen the attack.
In the 71st minute, the Forest team finally scored. Wood's long shot hit the Portsmouth defender, changed direction, and bounced right at Mitchell's feet. He swung his leg and shot, and the football went into the net.
The trailing Portsmouth still wanted to fight back, but just three minutes later, Matías Fernández blasted open the Portsmouth goal with a long shot. This goal completely extinguished Portsmouth's fighting spirit. Nottingham Forest controlled the pace of the subsequent game, and Twain also let more players rest through substitutions.
The only ones who were dissatisfied were the Portsmouth fans watching the game in the stands. They expressed their protest by leaving the game early.
When the referee blew the whistle at the end of the game, the latest news from Old Trafford was that Sunderland had also lost to Manchester United. There was no change in the situation between the two teams. Both could still be relegated, and both could be promoted.
When Twain got up to shake hands with the Portsmouth manager, Kerslake, who was next to him, leaned over and said, "Arsenal also won."
Twain nodded and did not say anything. He still had a smile on his face and extended his hand to the opposing manager.
The two teams were still three points apart, and nothing had changed.
Today's Nottingham Forest could only guarantee that they would win consecutively, and then hope that Arsenal would make mistakes.
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