Godfather Of Champions

More than fifty thousand home fans used boos to “welcome” Tony Twain had now become a thing of the past. The referee blew the whistle to start the game and the fans turned their attention to cheering for the Forest team, leaving Tony Twain aside.

Judging from the game, the home team, Nottingham Forest clearly had the upper hand. After all, they had played together for years. Even if the manager was changed, there was no loss to the rapport. Furthermore… even if they were facing a team led by their original boss, there was no need for them to throw the game. Twain did not teach them to throw a game when they played against old friends.

Nottingham Forest’s locker room was clearly divided into three factions. One of the factions comprised of staunch supporters of Tony Twain, such as Pepe. The other was made of players who were full of grievances against Twain. If a representative figure were to be named… Wood could be considered as one of them. There was also a middle-of-the-road faction. They did not clearly express their views and had no obvious feelings like Pepe’s or Wood’s toward Tony Twain’s departure. These people occupied the majority.

These divisions was also reflected during the game. George Wood was particularly driven. He tirelessly shuttled back and forth in the midfield to intercept and actively plugged to participate in the attacks.

O’Neill gave up the 4-2-3-1 formation that Twain had originally used to play and switched to the 4-4-2 formation. With Wood in the midfield as the only defensive midfielder, Şahin played as the attacking midfielder. The two midfielders were Fernández and Bentley. The forwards were Aaron Mitchell and Agbonlahor. The full backs were Gareth Bale, Pepe, Thiago Silva and Rafinha from left to right. The goalkeeper remained as Akinfeev.

The lineup was no different from that during Twain’s time. It looked like O’Neill still intended to follow the main framework left by Twain. But if Pepe’s words were true, O’Neill would soon have to worry about finding another center back.

On the side of the England team, a group of players, temporary pieced together to form a C team, had to play the away game with little motivation, tacit understanding and technical tactics. They were really lucky that they did not concede a goal to Nottingham Forest in the opening ten minutes.

The defender, Jack Cork passed the football to the midfielder, Delph. It was supposed to be an ordinary fifteen-meter diagonal pass, which was a technical move that any professional footballer would have. But Cork lost the ball. Cork could not be blamed, because Delph was partly at fault as well.

The moment Cork passed the ball, Delph thought Cork was going to dribble the ball himself, so he stood still. But Cork’s pass needed Delph to start running to receive it, so Delph missed the ball and it rolled straight to Şahin’s feet.

The fans in the stands gave Cork a burst of laughter for his passing error.

Dunn shook his head when he saw the scene in the stands and said, “It’s really a motley crew.”

He was right. The England team was a motley crew. Some of the players had rarely or never been selected for the national team before. And now they were put together at the last minute. How could they be expected to play well? hard work in the hope that they will do well? It was simply delusional.

Twain listened to the laughter of the Forest fans off the field. He was not annoyed nor anxious. Indeed, these players were not good enough and inexperienced, but they had an advantage that no one else had noticed – the team in front of him was had more fighting spirit than that England team with big name players, because they had more reason to work hard.

If you want to me to pick you, you have to show me your drive and fight hard.

※※※

But the motley crew remained a motley crew. After the England team held on for twenty-five minutes, the goal defended by Chris Kirkland was finally breached with a header from Aaron Mitchell.

The cheers which erupted from the Crimson Stadium this time were louder than the cheers welcoming the Forest players. The deafening sound was like the Niagara Falls pouring down in torrents next to the ears. It roared continuously like rolling thunder, surging in everyone’s heart.

It was the first time Twain experienced the power of the new stadium. He was a little unsettled from the shock – it must be gratifying to play in such a such stadium as compared to the City Ground stadium.

“The goalscorer is Aaron—” The announcer on the stadium broadcast led the fans to loudly chant.

“Mitchell!!!” The fans in the stands shouted in response.

“In the 26th minute, Aaron Mitchell scored the opening goal for Nottingham Forest! A beautiful coordination on the sideline and cut in for the shot in the middle! David Wheater and Anton Ferdinand were helpless against Mitchell’s height and bounce advantage! Before the game, people were afraid that Nottingham Forest, without Tony Twain, would play uncharacteristically as if they had lost their soul. But from this goal, the fear was superfluous. The Forest players are quick to adapt to their new manager. They are also unfazed and do not relent when they face Tony Twain… It looks like Tony Twain’s first national team game is going to meet with failure!” The commentator’s tone sounded like he took delight in the misfortune. In fact, to see the always strong Twain suffer defeat was the wish of many people. The commentator was no exception.

The reaction from the fans after the goal was enthusiastic, but the goalscorer was not in the mood to celebrate. On the one hand, it was just a friendly match and could not even be considered a quality warm-up game. There was nothing to be proud of to score a goal. On the other hand, it was because he was up against Tony Twain, the boss. The man whom Mitchell should be most grateful for his career in his life was Tony Twain. If it were not for him, it was likely that he would still be playing as the unpromising center back all his life and then be abandoned by the Forest team before ended up playing in a lower level league team and eventually retiring in obscurity. He was on the side of Pepe.

After the goal, Mitchell was not even in the mood to wave in response to the fans’ cheers for him. He just turned around and ran back. Occasionally he would shake his head and felt that the players the boss had picked were too weak…

Those who were really happy with the goal were Martin O’Neill and Evan Doughty. The former was happy because it was possible to beat Tony Twain. While a friendly match could not clarify too many issues, it certainly allow him to temporarily get rid of Tony Twain’s shadow. People would not always use the tedious and complicated label “Tony Twain’s successor” when they mentioned him.

The latter’s delight was that he heard the cheers erupted from the stands. The people’s hearts were still on his side…

Twain expressed a slight dissatisfaction with the goal concede. He shook his head in the technical area as he said to Walker, “The defense is not tight enough…We shouldn’t have given Bentley a chance to pass the ball.”

Walker nodded and said, “It can’t be helped, Tony. They’ve only been practicing together for half a day. I don’t think we should care about the result of this game…”

“No.” Twain categorically rejected Walker’s suggestion, “We must win this game.”

Walker did not go on. He could vaguely guess why Twain must win the game. The reason was complicated. In addition to establishing his power and prestige, perhaps he was provoked by the boos during his entrance. When did Tony Twain ever admit defeat? Give in? If people booed him, he had to prove his power. Simply put, he just liked to meet other people head-on. As a man with such a strong personality, no wonder he offended so many people.

Walker felt he might really be the most suitable candidate to be England’s assistant manager. If someone else were to be Twain’s assistant, he was afraid that the person might be at odds with him soon. Only those like him who knew Twain so well could act as a lubricant to oil the wheels.

On closer inspection, the person who could be an assistant manager to Twain must be a Mr. Nice Guy, someone who tried never to offend anybody. Like David Kerslake, or the Chinese man, Dunn. No wonder Roy Keane was said to have turned down two offers from Twain to be an assistant manager. If the Irishman had agreed, the two of them might not have been friends…

※※※

The Nottingham Forest fans were optimistic about the result of the game, especially after Mitchell’s goal. They thought it was not a problem for them to win. The issue laid in how many goals the team could win against the England C team. If they won big in the end, they would have the most satisfying afternoon.

Twain observed off the field for a while and decided to make an adjustment. Taking advantage of a dead ball, he called the captain, Ashley Cole, who was near his side, over to him and repeatedly exhorted for a while.

Back on the pitch, Ashley Cole relayed Twain’s latest instructions to his teammates. Following which, the England team tightened their formation and began to move into a defensive phase.

Twain saw that Nottingham Forest’s morale had soared amid wave after wave of support from the fans. Looking at O’Neill’s excited state on the sidelines, he could conceived that the Forest team would definitely take advantage of the momentum to wage an offensive later in the game. Therefore, based on the England team’s current state, if they wanted to press ahead and go head to head with the Forest team, it would end up in a disaster. If they were to concede another goal, Twain would not have the confidence to win the game.

So, he chose to retreat, which was really ugly to watch.

The commentator laughed, “We are now seeing Tony Twain’s signature move again. Nottingham Forest’s new manager, Martin O’Neill, is clearly more active. He’s directing his team to press on to attack and try to score another goal.”

Having paid the price of playing ugly football and being ridiculed, Twain’s team managed to hold the 0:1 score line until the halftime interval. No matter how Nottingham Forest bombarded, the England team’s goal did not fall. It was boring for the fans in the stands –the opponent was obviously England’s C team, put together at the last minute but the team was unable to overcome them even when the entire main force were deployed.

Defending to the last was very simple. All everyone had to do was to huddle together and be clear about what they wanted to do.

With only half a day of practice time, Twain made the team practice defense. At the time, everyone thought it was odd. Now they finally understood the pains the manager had put into this …

By the time the whistle sounded at the halftime interval, Twain was the first to get up from his seat and take the lead to walk toward the tunnel. When the camera wanted to give Twain another close-up shot, it could only capture a shot of his back in the tunnel.

“It was an extremely boring first half. As long as Tony Twain is around, the game can’t look good. Martin O’Neill has brought a breath of fresh air to Nottingham Forest while Tony Twain brings what he did best at the Forest team to the England team. We don’t know if it is a good thing or a bad thing. But like what Twain himself has said, a victory is the only measure of a manager’s success. As long as he can lead the team to victory, those voices which doubt him will disappear.”

※※※

Twain watched the players filed into the locker room. He closed the door when everyone was there. The soundproofing of the new stadium was much better than the City Ground stadium. The noise outside was almost impossible to hear as soon as the door was closed.

“I have to praise you all for the good performance in the second part of the first half. You have defended against the Treble winning team’s attacks. I have nothing to complain about, considering you have only been a team for only one day and only concede one goal.” Twain first gave the group of people something sweet before…

“But.” He changed tack and said, “Do you still remember what our goal is for this game? It’s not to win marginally with one goal here and not even to tie the game with the home team. I want you to understand this point—” He raised his right index finger and continued, “The difference between the national team and a club’s team. When you play for your respective clubs, you have to face a long season, at least thirty-eight games a year. During the process, draws and defeats are allowed. It doesn’t matter if this game is lost. We can win the next game. But the national team is not the same. The room you are allowed to have here for mistakes and defeats is very small. I do not know how many of you can eventually make it to my national team squad list. But I hope you can develop a habit here – to try your best to seek victory in any game.”

He smiled for a bit and said, “From now on I am the manager of the England team and you must remember that. I’m a man who likes to win and hates defeat. My team also has to like to win and hate to lose.”

The players looked at him quietly.

“Don’t tell me there’s someone who likes to lose?” He asked.

Someone shook his head.

“Well it looks like we now have a common language and a common goal.” Twain spread his hands and said, “We will play defensive counterattack in the second half. They will use the sidelines to threaten our goal. We will, in turn, take advantage of the empty space behind their two sidelines.”

Twain was very familiar with Nottingham Forest, even with the change of manager. Twain had discovered that the Forest team had not changed much through his observation in the first half. At least they had maintained the offense on the sidelines which they were best at, very well. Did the Forest team’s only goal now come from the attack in the sidelines?

“Do not pass the ball too much in the midfield, play more high balls, and try your best to do long passes.” Twain was referring to the English style of long balls that were once sneered at by countless people before. But it was rather good to use it to deal with the increasingly elegant Nottingham Forest.

Martin O’Neill had instilled a certain beauty in Nottingham Forest’s style. Their playing was a joy to watch. It had been worth it after working on them for more than a month. What he did not notice, however, was that the current Nottingham Forest team was slowly losing the most important thing.

“You guys have to play with a slightly tougher attitude. Don’t be afraid of getting hurt! How could you get hurt? You’re the ones driving it, not them. Only the passive side will get hurt. So, the more afraid you are of injuries, the more likely you will be injured. Give yourselves the free rein to go big. It’s going to be okay!”

“Şahin passes the ball well, but he has been seriously injured before. So, he’s apprehensive about physical contact. You can grab hold of that point and stick closer to him to tackle. There must be some petty maneuvers too to make him unable to pass the ball easily. Mitchell’s techniques and headers are good. But don’t let his height fool you, his physical ability is very weak, and physical fitness is his weakness. Force him to run continuously and go head to head with him so as to exhaust him sooner. Then he will not be as threatening later in the game. Agbonlahor is fast, but his goal-kicking method is rough. There is nothing to worry about. Just don’t let him shoot from the sidelines. Blocking Mitchell will be the same as blocking Agbonlahor…” Twain analyzed the strengths and weaknesses of all the Nottingham Forest players one by one to his players. He told them how to deal with each of them. Except for those players who only joined the team this summer, he covered almost everyone once. He was very familiar with Nottingham Forest. He was so familiar that he did not need to do his homework in advance. He had the information at his fingertips, and he could talk about it as much as he wanted.

Then he had to touch on George Wood.

He was stuck.

He did not know what to say. He knew Wood well, but he could not talk about how to deal with this kid. He waved his hands and said nothing, leaving the players, who were full of anticipation about it, a little disappointed and confused.

※※※

Martin O’Neill was not satisfied with his team’s performance in the first half as he had deployed the main squad only to score 1:0, knowing that their opponent was England’s C team.

If Tony Twain were here, he would have abuse roundly right away. He would have rebuked them for ending the first half with only a one-goal lead when they were playing against such a terrible team. But O’Neill could not do that. If he were to really do that, his approval rating in the locker room would plummet.

It was just so unfair. The more Twain scolded, the more charming he was, while the other people had to carefully wait upon the team.

After O’Neill tactfully expressed his displeasure, he rearranged the tactics. He thought that Twain would stick to the defensive counterattack tactic in the second half, which was not a difficult thing to do for a man who had studied him thoroughly. Generally speaking, the defensive counterattack tactic would only be used when a team was in the lead. But Twain always used it when his team was trailing by one goal. On the one hand, he could ensure that they did not continue to concede the goal. On the other hand, he could rely on a sneak attack to equalize the score, and then disrupt the opponent’s formation. The hateful part was he had repeatedly succeeded, and the method was time-tested.

The order O’Neill gave to the Forest team was to fight to score first once the game started. If the situation was not ideal, then they would pull back the defensive line and contend with Twain in the midfield. Anyway, if they were to compete in the midfield, Nottingham Forest would definitely win.

After he finished talking about the tactics, O’Neill repeated his demands. “We must win this game!”

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