Chapter 914: Volume 7: Heart of the Lion King, Determination to Win

The more than 50,000 home fans who "welcome" Tony Twain with boos have become a thing of the past. The referee has already blown the whistle to start the game, and the fans are all focused on cheering for the Forest team. Regarding this matter, Tony Twain no longer cared about it.

Judging from the scene, Nottingham Forest, which is playing at home, clearly has the upper hand. After all, they have played together for many years, even if the head coach is changed, the tacit understanding will not be lost. And... even if they were facing the team led by the original leader, they didn't need to let the water go in the game. Tang En had never educated them about such things as letting go of old friends.

The Nottingham Forest dressing room was clearly divided into three factions. One faction was the loyalists who firmly supported Tony Twain, such as Pepe. The other faction were players who were full of resentment towards Twain. If one were to talk about representative characters...Wood should be one of them. There is also a faction that sits on the fence in the middle. They did not express their views clearly, and they did not have obvious emotional tendencies towards Tony Twain's departure like Pepe and Wood. Such people accounted for the majority.

In the game, this split was also reflected. George Wood was particularly enthusiastic. He shuttled tirelessly in the midfield to intercept, and at the same time actively advanced to participate in the attack.

O'Neill gave up Twain's original 4231 formation and changed it to 442. In the midfield, only Wood is the defensive midfielder, and Shaheen is the front midfielder. The two wingers are Fernandez and Bentley. The forwards are Aaron Mitchell and Abang Laho. The defenders from left to right are Gareth Bale, Pepe, Thiago Silva and Rafinha. Goalkeeper Akinfeev.

This lineup is no different from Twain's at that time. It seems that O'Neill still intends to use the main framework left by Twain. But if Pepe's words are true, O'Neal will soon have to worry about finding another central defender.

On the other hand, in England, a group of impromptu third-tier teams had no tacit understanding, no technical tactics, and no high spirits in the away game. It was really lucky that they were not scored by Nottingham Forest in the first ten minutes.

Defender Jack Cook passed the football to Delphi in the midfield. This was an ordinary 15-meter diagonal pass, a technical move that any professional football player would know, but Cook missed the ball. Cook can't be blamed, because Delphi is also partly responsible.

At the moment when Cook passed the ball, Delph thought that Cook was going to take the ball by himself, so he stood still. The ball passed by Cook needs to make Delphi run to meet it, so the football and Delph passed by, and rolled directly to Shaheen's feet.

The fans in the stands gave Cook a burst of laughter after making a pass error.

Tang shook his head after seeing this scene in the stands: "What a mob."

He's right, this England team is just a motley crew of impromptu players who have rarely or never been selected for the national team before, what good is expected of them? That is simply a fantasy.

Tang En listened to the laughter of the forest fans off the field, neither annoyed nor anxious. Yes, these players are not good enough and inexperienced, but they have advantages that others have not noticed-compared with the England team full of big names, this team in front of them has more fighting spirit, because they have the ability to work hard. reason.

If you want to get into my eyes, you have to show some desperate spirit.

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But a mob is a mob. Twenty-five minutes after the England defense, Chris Kirkland's goal was finally headed away by Aaron Mitchell.

The cheers erupting from the Crimson Stadium this time were even louder than when the players of the Forest team were welcomed into the stadium. The deafening sound seemed like Niagara Falls pouring down in front of their ears, and the rumble was like a continuous stream of thunder. Rolling Thunder, stirring in everyone's heart.

This was the first time Tang En experienced the power of the new stadium, and he was a little dazed by the shock - playing in this kind of stadium must be more enjoyable than playing in the city stadium.

"The scorer is Aaron—" the announcer on the stadium broadcast led the fans to shout again.

"Mitchell!!!" The fans in the stands responded loudly.

"Aaron Mitchell opened the scoring for Nottingham Forest in the 26th minute! Beautiful wing coordination and central goal! Mitchell's height and jumping advantage allow David Whitte and Anton Ferdinand Don't know what to do! Before the game, some people were worried that Nottingham Forest, which lost Tony Twain, would perform abnormally like losing its soul, but judging from this goal, this worry was unnecessary. The players of the Forest team quickly adapted to it. Their new head coach didn't show mercy when facing Tony Twain...It seems that Tony Twain is about to encounter Waterloo in his first national team match!" The commentator's tone was gloating. In fact, it was the wish of many people to see Tang En, who has always been strong, deflated, and this commentator was not exempt.

The fans reacted enthusiastically after the goal, but the scorer was in no mood to celebrate. On the one hand, this is just a friendly match, not even a warm-up match of sufficient quality, and scoring a goal is nothing to be proud of. On the other hand, it was because he was facing Tony Twain, the boss. The person Mitchell should be most grateful for in his career is Tony Twain. If it wasn't for him, he might still be playing that hopeless central defender for the rest of his life, and then he would be abandoned by the Forest team and go to a lower league. He spent his days in the team, and finally retired in obscurity. He is on the side with Pepe.

After the goal, Mitchell was not even interested in waving in response to the fans cheering for him, so he turned and ran back. Occasionally he shook his head, thinking that the people chosen by the boss were too weak...

The ones who were really happy with the goals were Martin O'Neill and Evan Doughty. The former is because it is possible to beat Tony Twain. Although a friendly match can't explain too many problems, it can definitely get rid of Tony Twain's shadow for a while. When people refer to him, they won't always say "Tony Twain Grace's successor," such a long and complicated appellation.

The latter was happy because he heard the cheers erupting from the stands, and the hearts of the people were still on his side...

Twain expressed a little bit of dissatisfaction with the conceded goal. He shook his head on the coach's bench and said to Walker: "The defense is not tacit enough... Bentley shouldn't be given a chance to cross."

Walker nodded: "It can't be helped, Tony. They've only practiced together for a long time. I don't think we should care about the result of this game..."

"No." Dunn categorically rejected Walker's proposal. "This game has to be won."

Walker stopped talking. He could vaguely guess why Tang En had to win this match. The reasons were very complicated. Apart from Liwei, he was probably also stimulated by the boos when he entered the arena. When did Tony Twain admit defeat? Softened? If others boo him, then he has to prove his strength even more. Simply put, he just likes to fight against others. With such a strong personality, no wonder he offended so many people.

Walker feels that maybe he is really the most suitable candidate to be England's assistant coach. If someone else were to be Tang En's assistant, I'm afraid they could quarrel with him in just three words. Only someone like myself who knows Tang En so well can act as a lubricant.

Thinking about it more carefully, the person who can serve as an assistant coach for Tang En must be a good-natured, good-natured gentleman. Like him, like David Chrislake, and like that Chinese Tang. No wonder it was said that Roy Keane rejected Twain's invitation to be an assistant coach twice. If the Irishman came, the two of them might not even be friends...

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Nottingham Forest fans were optimistic about the outcome of the game, especially after Mitchell's goal. In their view, winning is not a problem, the problem is how many goals the team can win against the England third-tier team. If they win in the end, their afternoon will be worth it.

Tang En observed from the sidelines and decided to make adjustments. Taking advantage of an opportunity of a dead ball, he called the captain Ashley Cole who was close to him to his side. So and so exhorted.

After returning to the pitch, Ashley Cole conveyed Twain's latest instructions to his teammates, and then the England team shrank their formation and began to enter the defensive phase.

Tang En could see that Nottingham Forest's morale was high amidst waves of cheers from the fans, and seeing O'Neill's excitement on the sidelines, he could guess that the Forest team would definitely take advantage of the momentum in the upcoming games attack. So with England's current state, if you want to go out and play against the Forest team, you will definitely die miserably in the end. If he was conceding the ball, Twain would not have the confidence to win the game.

So he chose to retreat, an ugly retreat.

The commentator laughed: "We saw Tony Twain's signature stunt again. Compared with him, Nottingham Forest's new head coach, Martin O'Neill, is obviously more active. He is commanding the team to attack and strive for another goal. ball."

Paying the price of being ugly and being ridiculed, Twain's team managed to hold the 0:1 score until halftime. No matter how indiscriminately bombed Nottingham Forest, England's goal is not down. This made the fans in the stands feel very bored-the opponent was an improvised third-tier England team, and the team played almost all the main players, but there was still nothing they could do about it.

It's very simple to stick to it, just huddle together and make it clear what you want to do.

During the only half-day of joint practice, Tang En let the team practice defense. At that time, everyone still felt strange, but now they understand the good intentions of the head coach...

When the halftime whistle sounded, Tang En was the first to get up from his seat and walked to the aisle. When the camera thought of taking another close-up shot of Tang En, it could only capture his back in the corridor.

"A very boring first half. As long as Tony Twain is around, the game will not be interesting. Martin O'Neill has brought a breath of fresh air to Nottingham Forest, and Tony Twain has brought what he is good at in the Forest team to England. team. We don’t know whether this is a good thing or a bad thing. But just like Dunn himself said, victory is the only criterion for testing the success of a head coach. As long as he can lead the team to victory, those voices who doubt him will disappear. .”

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Tang En watched the players file in in the locker room, and he closed the door when everyone was there. The sound insulation effect of the new stadium is much better than that of the city stadium. Once the door is closed, the hustle and bustle outside can hardly be heard.

"I have to praise you for your good performance in the second half of the first half. You defended the offense of the treble-winning team. Considering that you have only been a team for one day and you can only concede one goal, I have nothing to complain about. It's gone." Tang En first gave the group a candied date, and then...

"But." He changed the subject. "Don't you forget what our goal is in this game? It's not a small loss here, or even a tie with the home team. I hope you understand-" He raised his right index finger, "The national team and the club team The difference. When you play in your respective clubs, what you have to face is a long season with a minimum of thirty-eight games a year. During this process, draws and losses are allowed. It doesn’t matter if you lose this game. , we can win the next game. But the national team is different, here you are allowed to make mistakes and lose very little room, I don’t know how many of you can finally enter my national team squad, but I hope that you can develop a habit here-to try to win any game."

He smiled. "I'm the manager of England from now on and you have to remember that. I'm a guy who likes to win and hates to lose and my team has to like to win and hate to lose."

The players watched him silently.

"Does anyone like to lose?" he asked.

Someone shook his head.

"Look, we now have a common language and a common goal." Tang En spread his hands, "In the second half of the defense, they will definitely use the wings to threaten our goal. We will use the two sides behind them instead. vacancy."

Tang En is very familiar with Nottingham Forest. Even though the head coach has changed now, Tang En found that the Forest team has not changed much through observation in the first half. At the very least, the wing attack that he is best at is well maintained. Isn't the only goal of the Forest team initiated by the wing attack?

"Don't make too many passes in the middle of the field, play more headers, and try to pass as long as possible." Tang En talked about the English long pass that was sneered at by countless people in the past. But it is good to deal with the increasingly delicate Nottingham Forest.

Martin O'Neill instilled a kind of beauty in Nottingham Forest, played football to make people feel happy, and his work of more than a month was not in vain. But what he didn't notice was that the current Nottingham Forest was slowly losing one of the most important things.

"The more tough you play football, don't be afraid of getting hurt! How could you get hurt? You are the one who takes the initiative, not them. Only the passive side can get hurt. So if you are afraid of getting hurt, you are more likely to get hurt. Let go of your hands and feet, what? Nothing happened!"

"Shaheen's passing skills are good, but he has suffered serious injuries and still has some scruples about physical contact. You can grasp this. Use more close-to-body presses on him, and make small moves so that he cannot pass the ball comfortably. Mi Techel's technique and header are good, but despite his height, his physical resistance is weak, and his physical fitness is his weakness, forcing him to run non-stop and confront him, let him use all his strength When used in this way, the further back he is, the less threatening he is. Abanglahuo is fast, but his shooting is rough. There is nothing to worry about. Just don’t let him kick the ball from the wing, and block Mitchell. , It’s equivalent to blocking Abang Lahuo..." Dunn analyzed the strengths and weaknesses of all Nottingham Forest players one by one, and told them how to deal with them. Except for those new players who joined the team this summer, he almost Say it all over. He is very familiar with Nottingham Forest. If he is familiar with it, he does not need to do his homework in advance. These things are at his fingertips, and he can tell as much as he wants.

Then he talked about George Wood.

He's stuck.

He didn't know what to say. He knew Wood very well, but he couldn't tell how to deal with this kid. He waved his hand and could only say nothing, which disappointed and confused the players who were expecting it.

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Martin O'Neill was not very satisfied with the team's performance in the first half, because he played a 1:0 with the full main lineup. You must know that their opponent is the third-tier team in England.

If Tony Twain was here, he would definitely yell at them, telling them that they ended the first half with a one-goal lead against such a lousy team. But O'Neal can't do this. If he does, his approval rating in the locker room will plummet.

It's just so unfair. The more Tang En scolded, the more attractive he became, while the others had to serve him carefully.

After O'Neal euphemistically expressed his dissatisfaction, he rearranged his tactics. He believed that in the second half, Tang En would definitely stick to the defensive counterattack. For a person who has studied him thoroughly, it is not difficult to guess this point. Generally speaking, defensive counterattacks are only used when one's own team is in the lead, but Twain always uses this method when one goal is behind. Mess with the opponent's arrangement. The hateful thing is that he still succeeds again and again, trying repeatedly.

O'Neill's order to the Forest team was to strive for the first goal at the beginning of the game. If the situation was not right, then shrink the defensive line and deal with Twain in the midfield. Anyway, if they fight for the midfield, Nottingham Forest will definitely win.

After talking about the tactics, O'Neal repeated his request: "This game must be won!"

The players looked at each other, and suddenly felt that this was not as simple as a friendly match to celebrate the opening of the Crimson Stadium...

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PS, this is the first update today, and there will be another update at 6 pm.