Godfather Of Champions

“George Wood is shooting… it’s been stopped!” The radio rang with the commentator’s shriek.

As he watched the red light at the junction in front, cab driver Landy James smacked his steering wheel in a sudden movement, startling the customer sitting at the back.

“Nicolas Anelka!”

Following immediately after, an excited shout from the commentator emerged from the radio. “GOOOOAL! It’s a GOOOOOOOOOAL!!”

This time, Landy smacked his palm onto the horn.

During the long beep of the car horn, the commentator’s voice sounded again.

“Nottingham Forest’s counterattack! They scored a goal! Nicolas Anelka, a former Arsenal player, has given a most powerful stab to his previous club! He’s running hard towards… The manager’s seat! Look at how excited Tony Twain is!”

“Haha! Tony! Beautiful!” Landy shouted hoarsely as he blasted the car horn, in no mood to care about the terrified and trembling customer sitting behind him.

Just as he was continually smacking the horn in excitement, a traffic officer walked over.

“I’m sorry, Sir. The use of car horns in this area is prohibited.”

As he warned him, the traffic officer was preparing to take out a notebook from his shirt pocket to note it down.

Landy was momentarily stunned. The car horn stopped and the sounds from the radio became even clearer.

“… Who could have imagined that George Wood would suddenly appear in that position? It’s incredible, something that was completely out of Arsenal’s expectations!”

“We scored?” The traffic officer asked Landy James, after cocking his ear to listen.

Landy smiled. “That’s right, we scored!”

“Who scored?”

“Anelka.”

“That bastard… beautiful job!” the officer praised him and shook his head.

※※※

Highbury Stadium, filled with the sounds of people, was suddenly assaulted with a wave of jeers. But Anelka heard nothing. In fact, he did not even put a finger to his mouth and make a provocative celebratory move. Opening his arms wide, he ran towards the technical area of the Forest Team. There, Tang En was on one knee on the ground, pounding the ground heartily.

This season and his eruptive return to the UK were thanks to one person.

Tang En had just stood up from his own crazed celebration when he saw Anelka jumping towards him. In fact, he did not even manage to hold out his arms in time to welcome the hug before he was slammed into by the French forward and got squashed beneath him.

Without waiting for Tang En’s struggle, more Forest players leaped on them, pressing them down.

“Ha! Nottingham Forest’s celebratory tradition!” The ESPN English commentator said, laughing happily. “We haven’t seen this in some time. This only happens when the players are extremely excited.”

This time, not even George Wood stayed back as a spectator. He took the initiative to leap up, stacking atop them. He was so thrilled that he only knew to open his mouth wide to shout continuously.

“Nottingham Forest has equalized the score; this is a tremendously valuable goal! They have gotten a precious away field goal. Perhaps, after the next 90-minute match, this goal will become a crucial key in deciding victory or loss! It is little wonder that Forest’s players are so thrilled. Think back on the scene in the Champions League quarter-finals, Forest Team was able to successfully advance precisely thanks to their away field goal!”

※※※

Wenger stood at the sidelines and walked back and forth, his face ashen. He could not muster up a smile.

Originally, the match had fallen into the pace he had planned for. This goal changed everything up. All their previous efforts had disappeared like bubbles.

What a jerk! He had already researched into all aspects of Nottingham Forest Team. That included the personality and habits of their manager. He believed that this team, when faced with him, did not have any secrets left; that he had already found a way to forcefully control Forest. Unexpectedly, at the final moment, he was defeated by Tony’s abrupt change in strategy. No matter what, Wenger had not thought that Tony would push George Wood to the front field and make him the strategic core, to allow him to participate in the offense.

He had calculated innumerable paths, but just not this one.

But, how could this be his fault? The deeper his research on Wood, the firmer his belief became that the boy could do nothing else but defend. Letting him attack? Wouldn’t that be helping the opponents? Even if his shot this time assisted Anelka in a successful rebound shot, everyone would probably assume it was because Wood got lucky and did not send the ball flying too far.

An away goal… even though the situation was not so terrible that Arsenal would be eliminated, there were still 15 minutes in the match. What if Nottingham Forest offered up what they were best in? Buckling down and waiting to counterattack?

Since Forest had already gotten a goal, Wenger believed Tony would surely command his team to return to a tight defense until the end of the match. He understood his opponent. Results were everything. It was nothing to Tony Twain if the situation looked bad or even if they looked sorry. The current score was a result that fit exactly what Tony would hope for.

“Arsène?” Pat Rice walked out and stood next to Wenger. He wanted to ask what strategy he had to deal with this.

“Pat. This time, it’s our turn to be in trouble.” Wenger said, biting his lip and furrowing his brow.

※※※

It was not easy, after the referee interceded, for Tang En to finally be “rescued.” The first thing he did was not to tidy up his suit, but to hold back George Wood.

“Great job, George!”

George grinned at him.

“How did it feel when you were shooting?”

“Very good.”

Tang En winked at him. “Finally, you’re not saying ‘not bad’ anymore.”

Wood tucked away his smile and asked, “Are we going to defend next?”

“Defend?” Tang En asked.

“They’ve lost a goal on their home field, and we’ve equalized the score. They must be thinking…” Wood pointed to the Arsenal players who had already set the football in the center circle, preparing to kick off.

Wood had not expected Tang En to shake his head. “No. We’re not defending.”

Wood was shocked.

“We’re going to continue playing like this. I can’t really explain too much to you now. Anyhow, just remember… play exactly like you’ve been playing. When you have a chance, cut forward and suppress Fàbregas!”

Wood’s face lit up with understanding and he nodded. “I got it.”

“If you understand, then hurry up and get back.” Tang En saw a glimpse of the Fourth Official walking towards him again and hastily pushed Wood back into the field.

※※※

Before restarting play, Wenger’s newest instructions to his players were to give up on their defense and enhance their offense. They were to score as soon as possible. Nottingham Forest had already gotten one away goal. They could not allow them to take another point from them.

But as soon after the match restarted, Wenger had no choice but to change his decision.

Before Arsenal could even threaten Forest’s goal, Anelka shot off a long shot that almost blasted open the gates guarded by Lehmann.

“Arsenal’s players seem to be a little unfocused; perhaps they have yet to recover from that loss earlier. Anelka reminds them that the match isn’t over yet!”

What annoyed Fàbregas was that although he originally wanted to take the chance in the final ten over minutes of the match to help the team lead again, he quickly discovered that he needed to put a stop to George Wood first.

Outside the field, Tang En was shouting and yelling while waving his arms furiously. He was reminding the other team members to work with Wood’s positioning and movements, preventing him from getting trapped in a pincer attack from Arsenal.

Speaking of pincer attacks, Fàbregas successfully managed to again steal the ball from Wood’s average dribbling. However, he discovered that the situation was perhaps better whenever the ball was under Wood’s foot. Once the ball moved to be under Arsenal’s possession, it was as if Wood’s entire being became possessed by God; he was immediately energized, and he transformed into another person during the defense. He stole the ball whenever he could, and when he could not, he would immediately foul without hesitation.

That style of his truly caused Arsenal’s players tremendous suffering. Even if they could steal the ball from him, they had to immediately face his disruption at proximity. Whenever they were on the offense, Arsenal’s players always hoped to be as far as possible from that monster…

With George Wood attracting the majority of the focus of Arsenal’s players, the defensive pressure faced by his other teammates subsequently reduced. Arteta had more energy to put into passing to his teammates. This caused Wenger a headache and he was left without a choice but to make another adjustment. He asked his players not to press forward too fiercely to prevent gaps opening at the back that could be used by Forest. In that manner, Arsenal was unable to fully focus on the attack.

That was equivalent to using another path to resolve the defensive pressure on Forest. Arsenal, who was unable to fully focus on offense, was greatly reduced in their abilities. In fact, by the time the main referee blasted the whistle signaling the end of the match, Forest had yet to carry out any concrete attacks. However, they successfully managed to make Arsenal assume that Forest would make use of the gaps left behind by them when they pressed forward. Tang En utilized Wenger’s understanding of Forest Team and checkmated him instead.

As a result, when the match crept close to its end and Wenger raised his head to look at the huge screen above with the score of 1:1, he abruptly realized he had been played by Tony. Twain had pretended that he had wanted to score another goal in the last minutes, but it was only a front! His true aim was not to attack, but to defend!

In that same moment, even though Wenger already saw through it, he knew that there was no time to do anything about it. There was not much time left in the match; the main referee had already raised his hand thrice to look at the watch. He was going to blow the ending whistle for the match any time now.

Seeing Wenger pace back and forth on the sidelines, Tang En smiled at Kerslake beside him, saying, “China’s Sun Tzu said this in The Art of War: Nothing is too deceitful in war. We’ve won, David.”

Just as he finished speaking, the referee blew the ending whistle of the match.

“The match has ended! Up until the last moment, Arsenal did not manage to score again. They drew with Nottingham Forest with a score of 1:1 on their home ground! For Twain and his team, this result is very satisfying. However, this score does not signify certainty for Forest to acquire a ticket to the finals. Arsenal still has a very good chance. After all, Nottingham Forest only has one away goal. I believe, based on Arsenal’s strong offensive capabilities, that getting an away goal in City Ground should not be a difficult matter. And they are no stranger to that stadium. In fact, two months ago, Arsenal got a victory over Nottingham Forest in that very stadium, with a score of 2:0. This match’s score is not the end of the world for Wenger’s team.”

While it sounded somewhat reasonable, those words, when articulated, only made people feel that it was for comforting the loser.

Wenger would probably dislike hearing that.

At the end of the match, Tang En immediately turned and walked towards the technical area for the home team. He took the initiative to put out his hand when he was still five or six meters away from Wenger. His face was beaming.

“A brilliant match, wasn’t it?”

Wenger also put out his hand, the two clasping hands.

“A brilliant match. Congratulations, Mr. Twain.”

“There’s still 90 minutes. Our victory or loss still remains unknown.”

“You’re right. It is much too early to laugh or cry about it.”

“Let’s meet in City Ground.”

After bidding goodbye to Wenger, Tang En did not walk back to the corridors. Instead, he turned and walked back towards the field. The players of both teams were not exchanging jerseys with a friendly atmosphere after the match; they were each other’s opponents in both the Premier League and the Champions League, there was not much friendliness to speak of.

Arsenal’s players hurriedly departed the field while Nottingham Forest’s players lingered in it as if they were the victors. They raised their hands in thanks to their audience even though most of them had left or were leaving the place.

“Alright, guys. Go back and take a shower, change your clothes. We’re going home!” Tang En called out to them, worried that the players were too excited and might fall ill.

Eastwood, who had been sent into the field in the last stages of the match with the objective of wasting time, came over to him, grinning. He hugged Tang En and continued walking along to the players’ corridors. He was not even sweating.

Hearing the call of their manager, the players all left the field one by one, coming down to give Tang En a hug before returning to the locker room.

Albertini stood together with Tang En on the sidelines. When the players came off of the field to hug Tang En, they also smacked palms with him.

Anelka walked into the stadium with his head high and left in the same way.

When George Wood came down Tang En said nothing; he just hugged him a little tighter. On the other hand, Albertini held him back to say a few words.

Only when everyone had left did Tang En turn and walk back together with Albertini.

“What did you say to Wood?” Tang En asked casually.

“Oh, nothing much… I just complimented his performance.”

Tang En smiled. “That’s right, Demi. I need to thank you. If it wasn’t for you telling me that George had the potential for offense and that you hoped for me to nurture him into a well-rounded midfielder, I might not have been able to win this match.”

“I only provided a suggestion and a possibility, Boss. The one who decided was still you.”

“If you were in my place, you would also make this decision, right?”

Albertini smiled and did not answer.

“You’re right, Demi. George… indeed has some talent in attacking. And it’s been buried deep. Fortunately, it didn’t stay that way.” Tang En reached out to pat Albertini. “I’m looking forward more and more to his future. Let’s go.”

※※※

In the press conference after the match, Wenger admitted that George Wood’s sudden move forward was not a change he had expected. He somewhat regretfully expressed that if not for Wood’s shot, the match may not have ended this way.

Meanwhile, Tang En delightedly praised Wood’s performance and believed he had stepped up exactly when the team needed him most. Of course, faced with the astonishment of the reporters, he insisted that this was an adjustment he had been planning for a long time. It was something that had been repeatedly practiced during the usual training, and certainly not some kind of helpless last resort he had suddenly come up with.

As he said this, Wenger turned to look at him. Tang En finished what he was saying without a blush or uneven breaths. He could even smile at Wenger.

Naturally, Wenger did not believe the bulls**t Tang En sprouted during the press conference. Based on his understanding of Tony, he could not have been practicing this for too long before he burdened Wood with being the offensive core during the match. If that was truly the case, Arsenal was also unlikely to be its last victim.

Watching Tang En’s smiling face as he bragged unblushingly, Wenger was even more certain that the man before him was a jerk.