The new season had begun and Nottingham Forest had played three rounds of the league tournament, winning two and drawing one, which was not too bad. Although they had changed two managers, Tony Twain's foundation was very solid. After the turmoil in the summer, the team still maintained a relatively high standard.
After seeing the Forest team's performance, the media also changed their tune. Previously, they were not optimistic about Forest after the turmoil and internal and external problems. Some experts analyzed that Forest's goal for this season should be to fight for the European competition next season, be it the Champions League or the UEFA Europa League, and not to defend the title.
Now, they felt that as long as Flores could stabilize the team, Forest would still be a strong contender for the title.
Forest's results were good and the happiest person was Evan Doughty. As the league tournament progressed, the criticism he received was disappearing. Although there would be some fans hanging slogans at the stands every game, they were a minority and he selectively ignored them.
He began to look forward to the scene of the team successfully defending the league title at the end of the season. At that time, everyone would completely forget about Tony Twain and begin to praise him as the most successful chairman in the club's history, comparable to Real Madrid's Mr. Bernabeu.
The 30-year-old Ibišević had been sold to Serie A's new team, Genoa, and Forest had received 20 million pounds from the deal. It must be said that Allan Adams was very good at negotiating. He boasted that the 30-year-old Ibišević was in his prime, the golden age of a striker, scoring goals efficiently and steadily. What was more impressive was that he had the experience of winning many trophies. As the main striker of a treble-winning team, he was only sold for 20 million pounds. You've really made a killing!
Just like that, Nottingham Forest sent off the last player who left the team this summer. Aaron Mitchell was completely promoted and became the team's main striker. Although everyone predicted that Gareth Bale, George Wood, Fernando Gago, Akinfeev and the others did not transfer away. But the media believed that it was only because they could not reach an agreement on the price. Not being able to leave this summer did not mean that they could not leave next summer. As long as the Forest team's results this season were not satisfactory, it was almost certain that those people would leave.
In this summer, Nottingham Forest only bought four players and did not carry out a large-scale purge. This was thanks to the clear-headedness and persistence of the two previous managers, Martin O 'Neill and Flores. Under such circumstances, there was nothing more effective than maintaining the stability of the lineup.
Thiago Silva, Michael Dawson, Mario Balotelli, and Belgium's attacking midfielder, Eden Hazard.
They did not bring in a lot of reinforcements, which was also why they were entangled with the question of who should be responsible for the current situation of the team all summer. No one was responsible for the team's preparations for the new season, and no one made a plan that was implemented. Even for Flores, the new season was about to start when he took over the team. Trying his best to assemble the cards in his hand was enough to give him a headache. He did not even think about bringing in reinforcements.
After three rounds of the league tournament, Nottingham Forest was temporarily in fourth place. They were about to fly to Monaco to play in the UEFA Super Cup. As the winner of last season's UEFA Champions League, they had to compete with last season's UEFA Europa League winner, AZ Alkmaar of the Netherlands for the title of the king of kings in Europe.
And before that, a major event in the English football scene was Tony Twain's release of his second squad list for the national team.
As the media had previously guessed, the majority of the twenty-five players in the squad list were old faces.
Not many of those who were on the sidelines in the first friendly match made it into the list. This was the first official match that Twain led the England team in, and he was more cautious than outsiders thought.
In the previous draw, England was placed in the third group, which was Group C. The other six teams in the same group were Denmark, Wales, Ireland, Serbia, Macedonia and Armenia. To be honest, this group was not the strongest, and perhaps only Denmark and Serbia could pose a threat to the England team. But in Twain's heart, the more unfamiliar the team, the more dangerous it was. This was the same meaning as a club match — you could very likely make a mistake against an opponent you did not understand.
An opponent like Macedonia, Twain admitted that he did not understand at all. Therefore, during this period of time, on days when he did not go to the English Premier League to watch the game, he had been desperately gathering relevant information about Macedonia with his coaching staff, analyzing tactics and researching countermeasures.
This was England's first game in this UEFA European Championship qualifier, and Twain cared about this first game. He hoped that the team could get a "good start" so that it would be easier to play in future games. Another factor that was not superstitious was that Macedonia was not a strong team. If England could not beat Macedonia at home, then they would have lost a chance to grab points in vain.
In the list of twenty-six players announced by Twain, none of them were from a non-Premier League team.
Arsenal had two players selected, both from the midfield, namely Theo Walcott and Jack Wilshere.
Two players from Aston Villa were selected. The goalkeeper, Stuart Taylor, and the right-back, Glen Johnson.
Blackburn Rovers only had one player, the veteran goalkeeper, Paul Robinson.
Chelsea's three players were the center back, John Terry, the midfielder, Joe Cole, and the midfielder, James Milner.
Manchester City had three players, midfielder Gareth Barry, center-back Curtis Davies and fullback Steven Taylor.
Manchester United had three players: the center back, Rio Ferdinand, the forward, Wayne Rooney, and the midfielder, Michael Carrick.
Liverpool had two players. The midfielders were Steven Gerrard and Nigel Reo-Coker.
Middlesbrough had one player. Stewart Downing, the player on the side of the midfield.
Leeds United had one player. Fabian Delph, who played as a midfielder.
Everton had three players. Defender Joleon Lescott, left-back Leighton Baines and striker James Vaughan.
Next was Nottingham Forest, which had the most players selected for the national team. They had five players selected. Left-back Joe Mattock, midfielder David Bentley, strikers Aaron Mitchell and Gabriel Agbonlahor, as well as their captain, defensive midfielder George Wood.
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"Tony Twain has fulfilled what he said at his inaugural press conference: 'If the Nottingham Forest players perform well, why not choose them?' Looking at such a big list, we are once again reminded of the fact that Tony Twain had only coached in Nottingham Forest before he became the England manager. He is most familiar with this team … "
That was how the media commented on his big list.
In terms of selection, it conformed to the norm. The only ones with a strong "Tony Twain style" were these five Forest players.
"The Nottingham Forest players have not been affected by that chaotic summer and will take on important responsibilities in the New England team."
"Tony Twain's nepotism may cause dissatisfaction from other clubs."
"Dissatisfaction my ass." Twain threw aside the newspapers that habitually bad-mouthed him. "I don't want to recruit their players. Those managers can't wait. Des, did you see the expression on Benítez's face when I wanted to call up Gerrard, who had just returned from injury? It was as if I stole his wife. "
Walker laughed at the side.
Today was August 29th. All the players who appeared on the list had flown to London from all over the country to report. Only the five Nottingham Forest players had not arrived. They had to finish participating in the UEFA Super Cup before reporting.
Twain and Walker were waiting in front of the television to watch the game.
After changing his identity, Twain realized that his mindset and mentality had also changed. In the past, he hated the national team calling up players before important games because it would more or less cause the players to have thoughts and worry about getting injured in the game and not being able to play for the country. To the manager of the club, such thoughts could sometimes cause him to lose the victory, so he had to try his best to prevent such situations from happening.
But it was different now. He was now on the same side as the players. He was worried that the players would overexert themselves in the club's game and get injured, or that they would be in peak condition and not be able to find their form and spirit when it came to the national team.
But it was impossible for him to hope that Forest would lose the game because of this.
AZ was not a strong team. It should not be a problem for Nottingham Forest to win this game. Twain only hoped that Flores would give him some face and replace the key players in advance when the victory was already in place.
The television screen displayed the lineup of the two teams for the game.
Nottingham Forest had the goalkeeper Akinfeev, the center backs Michael Dawson and Thiago Silva, the left back Gareth Bale, and the right back Rafinha. The midfielders were George Wood, Fernando Gago, Matías Fernández and David Bentley. The forwards were Aaron Mitchell and Agbonlahor.
Other than Joe Mattock who was not in the starting lineup, the rest were all in.
Twain could only hope that they would not get injured and not have any problems with their stamina.
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The UEFA Super Cup match ended with Nottingham Forest's victory. Other than the slight threat that AZ posed to Forest at the start of the game, they quickly gave up control of the midfield. After George Wood and Gago firmly controlled the midfield, the Forest team began to counterattack.
As expected of the team that won the Treble last season, they had a solid foundation.
The barrage of attacks threatened the gates of Alkmaar.
Nottingham Forest's frenzied attack paid off in the 37th minute.
Mitchell used his head to assist Agbonlahor in blasting open the opponent's goal.
Walker was excited when he saw the goal. It looked like the two of them were in good form.
"We can use the two of them as the forward combination for the national team. Agbonlahor and Mitchell have enough chemistry … "he suggested.
Twain shook his head. "Managing the national team is not that simple, Des. You see, I've only recruited a few more Forest players, and I've already attracted the condemnation of some local media outlets. If I dare to put Rooney, who is not injured, on the bench, the reporters in Manchester will definitely tear me apart. I have to balance the relationships between the various parties. I don't want my team to form any 'Forest faction', 'Manchester United faction', 'Liverpool faction', 'Chelsea faction', 'Gunners faction' … these messy little groups. "
Walker rolled his eyes at him. "Then why did you say 'if they perform well, I'll use them' in front of the reporters?"
"That's just a method to deal with the reporters. It also sends a signal to the players — I only recognize their form and not their players. It's just a method of management. You can't really do it so crudely. There are many situations that can't be explained here. Alright, let's not talk about this anymore. Let's continue watching the match … "
After Forest took the lead, AZ Alkmaar tried to counterattack. In the end, they left even more space behind them. Forest seized the opportunity to score another goal and almost sealed the victory in the first half.
The rest of the match was not interesting. Flores, on the other hand, gave Twain enough face and replaced Bentley and Mitchell, the two England national team players, in the second half. As the captain, George Wood still played the entire match. Twain had no objections to this. Wood was a monster, a future warrior. There was no problem with his stamina. If he played the entire match, then so be it.
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When the Forest team lost the Community Shield, people were worried that such a team would collapse at the start of the new season and go down the drain.
At this time, Flores led the team to win the Super Cup. To the team, this was very good news. It stabilized the team's morale and raised their fighting spirit.
Look at Evan Doughty on the podium. How bright his smile was. This was probably the happiest he had smiled in the past three months.
George Wood raised the Super Cup high up. His teammates surrounded him and laughed. Everyone raised their hands to touch the trophy.
The commentator said passionately, "Nottingham Forest has successfully won the Super Cup! They are the kings of Europe this year! After a tumultuous summer, they set out again. Flores has also won his first championship. It looks like he is very confident that he can lead this team to replicate Tony Twain's glory! Perhaps it won't be long before he can successfully make the Forest fans forget about Tony Twain's existence … "
Walker glanced at Twain beside him.
Twain's expression did not change. He noticed that Walker was looking at him. He glanced at him and said, "Stop looking. Get ready to face the biggest trouble."
"The biggest trouble?" Walker was stunned. He had never heard of such a thing. What trouble could there be? Could it be that there was a big problem? Did the trouble come from Nottingham Forest? Weren't those people under Twain's command? How could there be trouble?
Twain did not explain. He just stared at the television screen. Actually, he had only been agitated just now. Looking at George Wood's face, he suddenly remembered — the second time he went to the Crimson Stadium, he received cheers from the fans and saw the respect from the players. However, George did not seem to express anything. He was at the front of the team and was the first to walk out of the tunnel. He did not even raise his head.
Twain did not know what Wood was thinking and how he saw him.
How would he face George in the national team?
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