Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
Twain was immensely relieved after confirming that Ibišević’s mentality was ok, but Matías Fernández’s problem was not as simple. He faced a language barrier so he needed a club-hired translator to communicate the coach’s will to him at any given time in training and, when it came to the game, he was basically guessing hand gestures. He currently spent two nights a week learning English, progress was slow because of time constraints. Twain feared that Fernandez might not learn enough in time.
Ibišević’s poor form became popular in the media, which aided him to block a lot of media slurs. Had Ibišević been in good shape and scored a goal, it would have been the Chilean’s turn to be the hapless man.
Twain decided not to care about Fernandez for the time being, believing in the former South American footballer’s IQ. Even if he was not proficient in the language and unaccustomed to the living habits of this land, there would always be a common language on the football field. T state of recovery, though slow, was certain.
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On August 27, the third round of the league, Nottingham Forest continued their away tour, with an away challenge against Manovic who had promoted. This was a weak team. In the first two rounds of the league, they suffered two consecutive defeats and their opponents were only of the middle standards of the Premier League.
Playing an opponent like this did not require the full strength of Nottingham Forest, so Twain’s big rotation was not surprising. After George Wood’s second-round league debut, he continued to show in this game and the rest of the roster was changed. But no matter how much rotation there was, on the day before the game Forest announced the starting list, Ibišević’s name was still on the list.
Now, Carl Spicer had something to say, ” Twain is bent on fighting us. Even a fool can see what state Ibišević is in, so why should he take a starting position? Van Nistelrooy, Eastwood, Abonrahho, Zikic, which of these are no better than this Bosnian refugee? Is Bosnia Persia? Ha ha! ”
His last words gave him a minor problem.
Nottingham Forest formally protested against Carl Spicer’s insult of their players on the show to Sky TV. Carl Spicer also went on the news programs of other channels.
A good reporter ran to ask Ibiševićh what he thought of the new nickname “Bosnian refugee”, but Ibišević refused to answer the question; he was not too happy about this.
Twain pouted. “Some people do not speak through the brain, but through the hole under their buttocks, I’m used to it. But him insulting my players like this, I would make him swallow his words. ”
It was Ibišević’s team-mates who expressed outrage. Eastwood jumped out for his forward buddy, “Ibe has the strength, but as a new player, he needs some time to adapt, which is normal. I don’t think identity has anything to do with performance on the football field. I’m a Romani and I believe Mr Carl Spicer must be looking down on us wandering around, but I would like to ask, who was the third man on last season’s scorer’s list? ”
Bosnians in Britain allegedly a protest letter to Sky TV, demanding Carl Spicer to formally apologize to Bosnians on TV and in newspapers.
This thing was not big nor small. Bosnia was a small country and they had no standing, especially not in Britain where the Bosnian population was so small. They basically had no social status so no matter how loudly they shouted, their voices were no louder than the crickets chirping at night.
But if this turned into a case of racism, Carl Spicer could lose his job. .
Spicer could afford to not be afraid of Twain because him scolding Twain was just like scolding his family, which was just an internal conflict. If the other party did not care, he could be unscrupulous, in any case can not go online to the point that can let him lose his job. He might need to think twice before scolding others.
Before the game, the media was buzzing about it. Through this, the true nature of the media was made apparent. When Carl Spicer scolded Tony Twain, they followed suit. When Bosnians were outraging about Carl Spicer being racist, they fanned the flames. They took no sides and sought only to profit.
Twain was happy with this snob, Carl Spicer, helping him before the game: he was trying to further agitate Ibišević with this matter, and the frustrations and discontents he had accumulated in his heart would all break out. It would be like a volcanic eruption, a blast! The world would be cleansed.
In the dressing room on game day, Twain was fervently inciting the players’ emotions, mainly Ibišević’s.
“Look what that idiot said. Today, he called Ibišević a Bosnian refugee and tomorrow he might call any one of you out the moment you make a mistake in the game. If this weren’t a modern civilisation I wouldn’t hesitate to fire two shots into his head! But now we have our own way of revenge: win the game against Norwich, and win it beautifully! ”
Then he pulled Ibiševićh aside. “Hey, Ibe. I don’t want to put pressure on you,but you see, that’s life.” He spread his hands. “Pressure came looking for you. I think you have to prove yourself in this game. Remember what I said? I don’t like to slap myself. Now there is such a chance slap someone else right in front of, you see if you are able to grasp it. ”
Ibišević nodded with a sombre look on his face. “I understand, sir. ”
“If there is a penalty, you can be the penalty shooter.”
Ibišević interrupted Twain, “I’m not a penalty shooter, sir. I want to score goals during the game time.”
Twain reached out. “Have you thought of your celebration moves? ”
Ibišević slapped him on the hand. “I think so. ”
“I’ll be waiting to see. ”
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Norwich were truly unable to compete with Nottingham Forest at all, even on their home court. The moment the game started, Nottingham Forest officially took over the “sovereignty” of the Carrow Road stadium from them.
When playing the underdogs, Nottingham Forest usually used their control of the midfield and layer-by-layer tactics, relying on a strong force to crush their opponents a little bit. At the same time, they would not let the back line add on the pressure, giving the other side the chance to counter attack.
But in this game, Twain changed tactics. He did not let the team to play possession, but instead played the style they used against a strong team, in the away game against Norwich played a quick counter-attack, which was a sure-win secret he had.
It was a little weird just looking at this starting roster.The starting forwards were Eastwood and Ibišević, neither of whom was a speed forward. How could they stage a counter-attack?
Nottingham Forest would soon reveal the answer.
George Wood’s direct long pass in midfield sent the ball to Theibevic’s feet. Ibe, who had his back to the goal, passed the ball to Eastwood, who was next to him, Eastwood kept firing straight, but the ball kept missing the goalmouth by a bit which stunned Norwich’s home fans.
Neither Bostock nor Shahin made their debuts in the game, but instead it was George Wood and Thiago, the dual-back configuration which makes Forest’s midfield defence much thicker and makes their attacking approach more concise. This was a tactic for weak teams to use against strong teams, it was not expected for Twain to use it to deal with a weak team like Norwich.
After several attacks, Nottingham Forest was doing the same thing, launching direct attacks from the backfield. The two sides quickly plugged in and the forwards’ area was not confined to the penalty area, but almost the entire half.
These attacks proved that Wood’s initial kick was not a temporal flair, but a tactic carefully orchestrated by the manager.
“I can’t understand, ” The TV narrator muttered.
Of course he could not understand, but it was a change that Twain made specifically to take care of Ibišević, making some adjustments based on Nottingham Forest’s original defensive counter-attacking tactics in order to get Ibišević to find a feel at Hoffenheim.
Quick and simple tactics with forwards running in a huge area to intercept and receive, so that Ibišević could receive the ball more. But the first goal was not scored by Ibišević.
In the 29th minute of the first half, Cogen broke through on the right side and passed the ball, but was intercepted by Norwich’s full back. Landing on the foot of Thiago outside the penalty area, he got his feet on the ball and the ball flew onto Eastwood’s butt and into the net, and the Norwich goalkeeper had no means against this goal – he dived towards the initial direction of the ball, but he had no idea there would be a Romani butt in the middle of its flight.
The TV caption registered the goal as Thiago’s at first but after replaying, the goalscorer’s name changed to “Freddy Eastwood”. This was his third goal of the season. Nottingham Forest had scored three league goals in the new season, all by the Romani.
The narrator did not forget about Ibišević as he cheered for Eastwood, “It looks like Nottingham Forest’s goals are all given to Eastwood all the time this season, maybe Tony Twain should bet with Carl Spicer on Eastwood instead. But I think if that’s the case, Spicer would definitely be afraid to take the offer. ”
Ibesevic smiled as he celebrated Eastwood’s goal. No one knew what he was thinking and how he felt about it.
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Ibišević tried to calm his restless heart. He was no stranger to the current situation, he just needed to calm down and think, then he would discover in the years of his career, he had been through several doubts from others.
At Paris Saint-Germain, he was labelled to have been able to get into the French club through the “countryman” relationship of then-head coach Halilhodžić. In the team, among the fans, there are rumours that he has an unusual relationship with Halilhodžić.
No matter how he trained during that time, people would look at him that way. So suddenly he realized that although Halilhodžić appreciated him and personally brought him from the United States to France, he could not stay under Haliloch if he wanted to have a future.
Even if he did well in the training session, people would think Halilhodžić was playing favourites. If he did not do well, him and Halilhodžić would both be in trouble.
He played only two games under Halilhodžić before he was out. In the eyes of outsiders, his good days were over. He only made four appearances for Paris Saint-Germain all season and scored no goals.
From the head coach to the ordinary training ground staff, it was believed that Bosnia-Herzegovina’s Khalilozic decided to introduce the Bosnia-Herzegovina so he could benefit from some other sources. This kind of young man basically did not have a future so it was better to let go of him earlier.
Ibišević was no fool. He knew what the club people thought of him, so he offered to go out on loan to play the game.
In this way, in the 05-06 season, he was loaned to the French-B where he felt freedom for the first time. No one would think he had been offered the job because of his relationship with the manager, and he could make the most of his abilities. There he made 33 appearances and scored ten goals. As a twenty-one-year-old player, he had already attracted attention.
But a big team like Paris Saint-Germain was certainly not interested in a 21-year old player who only achieved this much.
So he went to the Bundesliga team Aachen.
It wasn’t a successful season, making 24 appearances, scoring six goals and wearing the No.9 jersey, which symbolized the main center.
The doubt ringing in his ears did not dissipate. People always said that he was too nervous during games as a striker, which cost him a lot of scoring opportunities. In the face of the goalmouth, he seemed completely confused and did not know which direction he should kick the ball. He did not even have the confidence to shoot the goal, how could such a striker succeed?
In fact, there were thousands of players like him playing football. They were unknown, mixing in the lower leagues and the end team They could not score much in a season and could only move from one place to another to try their luck, only to end up transferring to a league and a team which was worse. At the end of the day, at the age of thirty-five or six, they simply just find a low-level league team to retire. They would then go to the community to coach the youth football team or find other jobs irrelevant to football to support themselves and their family. They may have had talent and ability, but what they had in common was a lack of opportunity and luck.
For him, he was lucky after the end of the 06-07season, because German FN Hoffenheim found him then.The story after was obvious, everyone knew what happened afterwards.
Now he was in the dark red Nottingham Forest jersey and stood on the pitch in the English Premier League. It was the most prominent team he had ever played for, but little else has changed. He was still being questioned.
Even if he scored 37 goals in a season at Hoffenheim he would still be questioned. “This kid was a wallflower, I dare bet that he would drop immediately, just like Mintál. Best not let him get his hopes up!”
Well, the only change was that in England, someone was finally making a public bet on this. “I bet he can’t score twenty goals a season!”
Carl Spicer, after watching Ibišević’s performance in recent games, said with pride, “In fact, I should have said that he couldn’t score ten goals in a season.”
I want to enjoy a genuine cheer, one without any distractions. Let them shout “Super Ibi” without whispering, “hopefully he can do this next season, or even the next game.”
Calm down and remember how I played in the 08-09season. Think about how I faced the goalmouth last time, facing those goalkeepers and defenders, and how I shot the ball through their gaps and into the goalmouths!
It is no big deal, there is nothing to be nervous about. I am still me, Vedad Ibišević, a boy from Bosnia. Do not expect too much from me, but do not look down on me either!
Score a lifetime worth of goals in a season?Do not make jokes like this!
I am only twenty-six years old, I still have a long life ahead of me, I still have a lot of goals I have not scored!
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“George Wood controls the tempo in midfield and now looks more and more like an organized midfielder, with Nottingham Forest’s five attacks originating from his feet. His long passing has come a long way compared to previous seasons. He looked up to observe the situation.”
In an instant, George Wood passed the ball to Bentley. Bentley did not carry the ball forward by the baseless, he passed directly at an angle of 45 degrees! On Norwich’s organized back line, Ibišević suddenly appeared, leaping high to hit a strong header towards the goal.
“The header is too straight! Does he observe the goalkeeper’s position before he starts his jump?” The narrator could always find Ibišević’s mistakes.
The football was hit out by the goalkeeper with both hands. This time the football fell at Eastwood’s feet and everyone in Norwich got nervous. They could see that the Romani was in the right form in the game, at the top of the arc of the penalty area, which was literally “Eastwood area”, and once he lifted his left, the soccer was on an arc towards the goalmouth.
Everyone focused their defensive attention on the Romani but ignored the Ibišević who was next to them. Eastwood got into position to shoot but instead passed the ball forward.
Ibišević, who had just ran back from the goalmouth, immediately turned around and did not even turn his head to look at the flag referee by the side. He only cared about the ball under his foot and at the same time took a glimpse at the opposing goalkeeper.
Offside? Kick this ball in first!
Whistle? I didn’t hear it!
Ibišević turned around and instead of taking the ball forward, he went straight for a ground shot
The football jumped on the turf, evaded the hand of Norwich goalkeeper Ward, and went straight to the post at the far end of the goal!
It jumped up again in front of the door line and hit the door post.
Instead of getting up right away, Ibišević, who shot the shot, was half-kneeling, maintaining his shooting stance and, like goalkeeper Ward, was staring at the football.
Two people saw it hit the door post, and then jumped the third, sloshing and falling within the door line …
In this moment, Ibišević’s pupil dilated out of excitement while his Norwich defenders raised their hands concurrently.
Was it offside…?
The TV narrator first cried out, “Offside! ”
But soon he looked at the side of the sideline, the line referee was running towards the center line with the flag, but the main referee was raising his hands flat and pointing towards the center.This was the gesture indicating a valid goal!The goal was valid!
A handful of Nottingham Forest fans started to cheer. A voice began to ring among them, “Super Ibi! ”
“Norwich’s players ran to the sideline and obviously they were a little bit controversial about the loss. But anyway, Nottingham Forest’s players are already cheering! 2:0! They led by two goals away from home, and it was only the first half! Vedad Ibišević finally scored even if it was a controversial one,. c” The narrator sounded a little unnatural, perhaps reluctant to admit his mistake so he only using “conversional goal” to save some face for himself.
The goal scorer Ibišević jumped from the ground with uncanicity, ignoring his teammates who wanted to hug him, and running straight to the corner flag, facing the camera, firing his right hand high, then swung it sharply and drew a circle. He was really working really hard as he almost hit Eastwood who was running towards him to hug him from behind.
Afterwards, he did not stop and ran towards the head coach seats. While hugging Tony Twain, his teammates who were chasing him for half a soccer field also came over and hugged, the big group of players were together.
“Ibi, what was the meaning of that action?” In the chaos, Twain questioned loudly.
Ibišević who was surrounded by his teammates chuckled happily, “It is like what you said, sir. Slapping someone else is indeed very satisfying! Ha! I am feeling really satisfied!”
