Chapter 535: Volume 4: Storm, Good Rival

The away draw with Chelsea widened the point gap between Chelsea and Manchester United to eight points. With eight rounds left in the league, these eight points are not easy to chase.

The only good news for Mourinho may be the situation in the last eight rounds. Manchester United needs to host Nottingham Forest in the thirty-third round. In the thirty-fourth round that followed, Manchester United was going away to play Chelsea.

These two games are related to the life and death of the two teams. If Manchester United can win two consecutive victories, then with four rounds left, Manchester United's point advantage will be extended to 11 points. At this time, Chelsea has almost only a theoretical possibility of winning the championship.

But if Manchester United loses to Nottingham Forest and then to Chelsea, the points of both sides are likely to be reduced to two points, and a loss in one game will lead to a comeback for Chelsea.

The league has officially entered the sprint stage, and now is the time when the bayonet is popular, and no one will show mercy.

Nottingham Forest's position is not very strong, so it is unlikely that the Forest team will engage in a big rotation when they play against Manchester United.

The point difference between Arsenal and the Forest team is only six points, and the distance between Liverpool and the Forest team is only seven points. This point difference is not so big that Twain can sit back and relax.

In the next thirty-first round, Liverpool defeated Arsenal at home, squeezing Arsenal to fifth in the league and the Reds to fourth.

Nottingham Forest beat Bolton 1-0 in an away game, Manchester United beat Blackburn Rovers 4-1 at home, and Chelsea beat Watford 1-0 away.

Several teams were victorious, save for the hapless Arsenal.

The situation hasn't changed in any way, and Twain must temporarily withdraw his attention from the league and focus on another battlefield.

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The quarter-finals of the European Champions Cup are about to start. Compared with several other teams, the Forest team's luck is exceptionally good. Their opponent is Eindhoven, the weakest of them.

Speaking of Eindhoven, there is another "old acquaintance" of Twain.

Chinese full-back Sun Xiang, who came to PSV Eindhoven on a three-month loan from Shanghai Shenhua.

Before he traveled here, Sun Xiang was loaned to Eindhoven in January this year. At that time, because he represented the team in the European Champions Cup, he was known as "the first Chinese player in the Champions League".

This name is very good, but Twain feels very sad. Japanese and Korean players have already appeared in the Champions League. Park Ji-sung can even be the main player in a giant team like Manchester United. What about Chinese players? It takes such a big publicity to make an appearance in the Champions League. The gap between Japanese and Korean football and Chinese football can no longer be clearly stated in one or two sentences.

But in the world he is in now, the title of "China's No. 1 Champions League player" has been given to Sun Jihai.

Sun Jihai has really benefited a lot from the forest team for more than two years. He was able to receive the most advanced training in the most advanced football environment. For the national team, Sun Jihai and other teammates couldn't cooperate. Coach Zhu Guanghu is also very troubled by this matter now. Sun Jihai's level is very good, and he is there. But his cooperation with the team has always been a problem. Summer is the Asian Cup, whether to use Sun Jihai or not has become Zhu Guanghu's heart disease. Fans were very vocal about using Sun Jihai, but Zhu Guanghu hesitated.

Putting aside these things about the national team, the match between Nottingham Forest and Eindhoven was hyped by the Chinese media as a "Chinese derby in the Champions League". The instigator of this incident was none other than Tang En's "old friend" Tang Jing.

Tang En has always hated this kind of silly hype. Tang Jing didn't even know if Sun Xiang would appear in Eindhoven's roster, so she couldn't wait to throw out the "Chinese Derby" gimmick. What's more, he didn't mention this game on any occasion, and Sun Jihai will also appear in the starting list. He really wanted to see what Tang Jing would say if Sun Xiang didn't even make the roster, or if he made it but didn't get a minute of playing time.

Although Eindhoven was the weakest of the eight teams, Twain did not take it lightly. He and the coaching staff have done enough homework before, and now is just the time to come in handy.

After Tang joined the coaching staff, Tang En began to pay more attention to the pre-match preparations. Tang En was obviously better at this aspect than Tang En. The coaching staff will fully study every detail of the opponent, then analyze the opponent's tactics based on these data and details, and formulate multiple sets of plans. If the opponent is like this, what should we do; if the opponent is like that, what should we do...

After everything was prepared, Twain brought the team to the Netherlands.

Aindhoven's head coach Koeman decided to play against the Forest team at home. Of course he knew how his fellow countryman Rijkaard lost. But the Dutchman's pride prevents him from doing things like Tony Twain, stick to it? If that's the case, before he loses, there will be boos against him in the sky above the stadium. Dutch fans are idealists. They would rather see their team lose the game in a gorgeous offense than win in an ugly defense.

Twain was very happy that he was able to meet such an opponent in the quarterfinals. If the opponent wants to fight against him, he can't wait for it.

What is Nottingham Forest's favorite team? It is to suppress those tyrants who want to defeat them with offense. The biggest headaches are those weak teams that shrink their defenses and can't hide.

This season, Twain stumbled in the duels against weak teams, but he did not gain the upper hand in the games against strong teams. After the match against Everton, Twain started the transformation of the team, but it was a long and systematic project. In the very utilitarian stage where the champion was eliminated, Tang En still allowed the team to return to their best defensive counterattack.

The away game against Eindhoven started as scheduled. As expected, Eindhoven actively sought to attack as soon as they came up, but what about Nottingham Forest? The commentators who are familiar with them can also see the defensive counterattack posture at a glance.

Sun Jihai did not play, and Sun Xiang also sat on the bench. Tang Jing in the press box looked disappointed at Tang En who was standing on the sidelines.

"Aren't you willing to do what I want!" she said viciously to herself.

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Eindhoven's attack was very effective 20 minutes ago, and it also gave Eindhoven fans the hope of defeating Nottingham Forest at home.

With two strikes, they were almost in Forest's door. But as Mourinho puts it, being on the pitch "almost" equals failure.

In the case of continuously besieging the Forest team's goal but always passing the goal, Eindhoven's morale has dropped.

This is Forest's chance. Twain whistled and waved his hands on the sidelines to signal the team to press forward, not to let go of any opportunity to counterattack.

The Forest team pays attention to the word "fast" in their counterattack. Usually they stay in the backcourt to lure the opponent to attack. Once the ball is stolen, the Forest team players who were still cruising just now will immediately become the vanguard.

In the Premier League, Nottingham Forest may have the fastest counterattack speed, because they have Ribery, Petrov, Ashley Young, Alan Lennon, these can be ranked in the top ten of "Premier League Fast Horses" famous person.

Relying on such a lineup, Tang En was able to counterattack with ease. Whether it was a surprise attack with the ball or an overall push, their speed could make the opponent dumbfounded.

Twain spent two seasons of effort to bring his team to this level. Now facing Eindhoven away, he is confident that Koeman will suffer a lot.

Eindhoven launched an offensive, but their intention to pass the ball was too obvious. For this kind of penetration in the middle, George Wood got stuck early and cut off the pass.

The next thing is simple, Wood passed the football to Van der Vaart at the first time, and then Van der Vaart decided the direction of the fast break. At the same time that Van der Vaart received the football, Forest's two wingers and two forwards quickly changed direction.

Left, center, right, three directions can be selected. Van der Vaart looked at the situation and decided to go left. He passed the football to Ribery.

After receiving the ball, Ribery didn't rush along the sidewalk. He let the PSV players who planned to block him on the sidewalk go to the air. Ribery took the ball straight to the middle, Van der Vaart ran to the left, and the two made a simple exchange.

Seeing Ribery coming to the middle, Cocu ran over to defend. He followed Ribery closely to prevent him from shooting.

Eastwood knew what to do when he saw Ribery running in the middle. He stopped running forward and turned to meet Ribery. Ribery passed the football to Eastwood who came up to meet him. Eindhoven defender Alex followed Eastwood closely to prevent him from turning around.

Eastwood didn't think about turning around at all. After he got the ball, Ribery ran without the ball. Cocu focused on Eastwood who had the ball. Pinching back and forth breaks the ball. Unexpectedly, just as he pushed forward, Eastwood suddenly passed the ball.

The football returned to Ribery's feet. At this moment, Ribery was at the front of the penalty area, but no one was marking him.

The Frenchman no longer hesitates, takes a shot...

"Frank Ribéry - Goal in! Beautiful shot from long distance! Gomez missed the save, almost dead corner!"

The Philips Stadium, which was still very noisy just now, suddenly fell silent. The fans of Eindhoven did not expect that their team had been besieged for a long time without scoring, and the opponent succeeded in a counterattack.

Tang En stood up from his seat and raised his fists high. Since Ribery was consciously placed in the middle by the coaching staff, his threat has become even greater. This is a well-rounded midfielder who shouldn't be confined to a wing.

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After the deadlock is broken, things are much easier to handle.

Eindhoven, who had lost the ball, desperately wanted to get it back. In this case, the Forest team had more room to play in their defensive counterattack.

The first goal has come, will the second and third goals be far behind?

In the second half, Van Nistelrooy and van der Vaart scored goals for the Forest team after changing sides. When van der Vaart scored Forest's third goal, fans had already left the Philips Stadium early. Coach Koeman looked at the score on the scoreboard with a livid face.

What does it mean to be conceded three goals in your home game? The opponent has already entered the semi-finals with one foot. If it is only 0:1, or 0:2, then you can still fight in the next round. Now that you lose three goals, the probability of wanting to comeback in the away game is too low.

Looking at this dazzling score again, Koeman lowered his head.

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Six days later, PSV Eindhoven arrived in Nottingham from the Netherlands with a little tragedy. Because they have to score at least three goals in the away game and let Nottingham Forest not score a goal before they have a chance to play overtime. If you want to advance directly, you must score more than four goals. This is really too difficult for Eindhoven...

Yes, it is too difficult.

The Nottingham Forest fans gave PSV a taste of what Barcelona had tasted before. Under the almost frenzied atmosphere at home, the Forest team unexpectedly did not choose to defend and counterattack, but held high the banner of offensive football, and fought against the dying PSV Eindhoven.

Perhaps it was because Twain felt that his team's advancement was a foregone conclusion, and it didn't matter whether they needed to defend or counterattack. It was better to use offense to please more audiences, and at the same time test how much energy the team would have if they went all out to attack. The score of 3:0 is indeed enough to reassure.

This game was really good to watch, the two sides came and went, the attack was very lively, and the fans enjoyed watching it. The two sides scored goals one after another. With the continuous goals, Koeman's mood was also wandering back and forth between hell and heaven. When PSV scored, he raised his arms and shouted, feeling that the situation was developing in the direction he wanted. Nottingham Forest scored a goal, and their complexion immediately darkened. The hope of promotion is going away...

Eindhoven scored the first goal. After all, the Forest team, which is attacking with all its strength, cannot be as impregnable as usual with no weaknesses. This goal gave PSV hope, but only five minutes later, Forest equalized the score. Anyway, everyone is attacking, and there are many loopholes in the back line. It depends on which side can catch as many as possible.

Next, the Forest team made persistent efforts and scored another goal, leading Eindhoven with a total score of 5:1, basically announcing that the game ended early.

Eindhoven did not give up, they are still working hard to find scoring opportunities.

At the end of the first half, they took advantage of a pass error in the backcourt of the Forest team, steal the ball and launch a counterattack, and the total score was tied to 5:2.

During the intermission, Dunn criticized the performance of the back line. In his opinion, even if the team focused on offense, it was not the reason for the back line to make mistakes.

In the second half, the two sides continued to attack, but this time the Forest team's defense performance was slightly better, and they did not give Eindho any chance. In the 80th minute, Bendtner, who came on as a substitute for Ruud van Nistelrooy in the second half, scored the third goal for Forest with a header, locking the total score at 6:2.

Although there are still ten minutes before the end of the game, Koeman has nothing to do with this score.

He knew that he had failed.

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When the final whistle sounded, there was a loud cheer at City Stadium. The commentator had to raise his voice in this noisy environment: "Unforgettable game, Nottingham Forest reached the semi-finals for two consecutive years! This is a very remarkable achievement! Tony Twain seems to be a player who is good at playing The coach of the Cup, his first championship trophy was won in the English League Cup. Last season, they reached the Champions League final and almost became the champion. This season, they have the opportunity to attack the final again! But first , they have to beat Chelsea, which is their opponent in the semi-final!"

"Chelsea? That's really a good opponent." After the game, Tang En said to Tang and Chris Lark next to him. "We have a psychological advantage against them."

Chris Rack laughed, and Tang also smiled slightly. Everyone knows what this psychological advantage is.

After saying this, Tang En turned his gaze to the stands. He knew that Mourinho was watching the game from the stands, but he didn't know if Mourinho was still there at this time.

Meanwhile, in the stands.

Mourinho and his assistants are queuing up to leave the field, and he doesn't forget to look down.

He saw Tang En looking up here.

"Nottingham Forest..." he whispered the name softly. "What a good opponent."

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PS, I had a bad fever yesterday afternoon, I called the doctor for a checkup, it was 40 degrees...

After getting an injection, taking medicine, and covering the night with two layers of quilts, I woke up this morning and the fever subsided. Although my head still hurts, it doesn't affect my continued typing in front of the computer.

Thank you for your peace of mind and understanding, thank you!