Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
Mourinho definitely did not underestimate Nottingham Forest and Tony Twain, so he was not surprised when Nottingham Forest launched an aggressive attack on his own home court.
However, despite this, the difficulty of the game still gave him a headache.
Nottingham Forest was bent on taking down Manchester United on their own home court and planned on using the victory to bid farewell to their head coach. One could tell from their expressions during the game that they wanted to fight for the league championship.
Manchester United naturally did not want to give up the victory of this match so easily. If they were to lose to Nottingham Forest, it would basically mean that they threw away the league championship. Who would want to fall right in front of the finishing line?
The game was in a deadlock from the start. The competition from both sides of the midfield was super intense. In this match, George Wood and Chen Jian were initially supposed to lead the offense, but Manchester United’s heavy pressure forced them to stay in defense. Likewise, as Wood and Chen Jian were defending the center path, Manchester United’s offense was unable to get in and unable to threaten the goalmouth of Nottingham Forest.
The midfielders were unable to organize an effective attack but Nottingham Forest was not panicking. They had other ways, like long passes.
Wood and Chen Jian pulled their positions to the back, becoming full-backs and basically camping at the defensive line instead of running forward to attack. While organizing an attack and holding the ball, they would simply see who had a chance ahead before sending a long pass over. Mitchell was 2.1 meters tall and as conspicuous as a lighthouse at the front, making a long pass over then allowing him to further pass the ball or hold it. However, other than his outstanding height, he also had impressive dribbling techniques and was able to control the ball under his feet without much issue.
Balotelli, on the other hand, was running near Mitchell, looking for a chance to shoot the ball into the goal.
By comparison, Manchester United was a notch lower in terms of their offense without Rooney, and long passes were impossible even if they wanted to do them. Their striker, in front of Nottingham Forest’s defensive midfielders, looked overly thin and weak…
To deal with Manchester United, Twain used two weeks to allow his team to become more solid. Their style of play was much more stable and so were their in-between actions. However, from the first half of the competition, the priorities of both teams were not on attacking but instead on stopping the opposing offense with small actions that would not be seen by the referee.
This was the last game where Twain would be the head coach, but the first half was not exciting at all. The high-quality offense from both sides was limiting. However, the fans on the audience stands were still enjoying the game and thought it was worth watching. The Manchester United fans were concerned about whether their team would be able to obtain the championship. So they did not really care about what the scene was like; they were not like Real Madrid or Barcelona fans who prioritized the outlooks of the game over the results. Nottingham Forest fans were likewise not the kind of group who focused on a beautiful game. They would be happy as long as the team won.
Only a part of the neutral fans would think this global live-streamed match was a little uninteresting, but the intense collisions were still exciting. It was a football match so it was not like there would be a goal, an exciting shot, or an incredible save every minute. However, a true fan would not let go of any small detail that occurred during the game.
And there were plenty of details in this game…
When Balotelli made a high free-kick, the scene was not showing Balotelli. Instead, they cut over to Twain, who was in the coach seat. Twain, in the shot, was violently shaking his head, regret plain on his face. Then the camera panned to Mourinho. The Portuguese was expressionless; it was almost as if he was not worried that his team would fail in its defense at all.
Next up, George Wood did a tackle on Manchester United’s midfielder, Adrien. As a result, Adrien, who was three years younger than Wood, was defeated and lost his possession of the ball in front of Manchester United’s penalty area. Upon seeing this scene, Mourinho’s face changed immediately and he repeatedly complained about to his assistant, who was beside him.
Nottingham Forest, on the other hand, took the opportunity to launch an attack. That was their most threatening attack in the first half. Wood passed the ball to Chen Jian, who was putting up a stance for a long shot but instead held the ball and passed it to the middle road as he saw Gareth Bale who was running forward. Mitchell leaned on Manchester United center-back Evans to take control of the ball as Balotelli ran forward past him, attracting the attention of Manchester United’s full-backs. Just when everyone thought that Mitchell was going to pass to Balotelli, who was running forward, Mitchell suddenly used his heel and kicked the ball behind him. Gareth Bale has already run into the penalty area, where he was neither offside nor guarded.
Bale did not hesitate when such a great opportunity was presented to him and made his shot immediately.
The ball went straight into the corner, but luckily, Manchester United’s goalkeeper, Ruffy, was focused as he swiftly dived and hit the ball out of the goal.
The attack brought a huge cheer and applause from the stands; it was counted as one of the rare highlights of the first half. Twain did not feel regret at seeing the ball miss, but Mourinho immediately stood up from his seat. In the face of Nottingham Forest’s smooth flow of offense, he could not sit still.
Actually, Manchester United, only needed a draw against Nottingham Forest to win the championship. However, Mourinho had never considered this possibility in his mind. He knew that Twain’s capabilities were limitless, so if his plan was simply placed on the level of “drawing to gain victory” the final result might be a loss. If he were determined to win, the team would more likely obtain their desired result.
Then Manchester United made an adjustment. Nottingham Forest was too confident, while Manchester United was hiding at the back. Mourinho wanted the team to press forward, using one or two high-quality attacks to lower Nottingham Forest’s spirit.
10 minutes after the adjustment, the whistle ending the first half was blown.
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“0:0! Mourinho should be satisfied with the scoreline. His team just needs to secure a draw in the last league match to win the league championship with a goal advantage,” The narrator John Mortensen described it like this, but in Mourinho definitely did not think it this way.
In the dressing room, Mourinho was relentless in his criticism of his team’s performance in the first half.
“Do you know what kind of game this is? This is a match to determine if we’re about to turn into heroes or laughing stock!”
Mourinho was flaring up at the players, partly because he thought of the competition between him and Twain. His players were not as competitive as Twain’s and it was embarrassing for him.
In contrast, Twain praised his team’s performance in the first half.
Generally speaking, Nottingham Forest was pulling ahead In the first half although there were not many quality offenses. The sturdy play that Twain set up for his team were making Manchester United very uncomfortable.
Twain did not say much other than the praise he was doling out, as if this were a usual league game. These people were professional football players who had played countless league games. They had been training for this since they were young, so they were supposed to be able to handle this although their opponents were a little stronger and the stakes of the game were greater. It was only a pity that he was unable to continue leading them.
He left the rest of the time to the players. Pushing open the doors, he went out.
Twain had a lot to say, but he could not. He was afraid of disrupting the players’ emotions and mood; he would not know how to feel if the players lost the match because of him.
Twain came to the tunnel alone. The workers there saw him and he saw them as well. He waved at them, signaling that nothing important was happening and that they should continue doing what they were doing. He had only wanted to take a breather.
Twain had a reputation in this field; no one would dare to approach him without his encouragement.
Hence, from inside the chaotic football field, he was able to gain a period of silence.
At this time, Twain suddenly wanted to smoke. He had not smoked since his heart attack, and it had been exactly ten years since he quit smoking. Strictly speaking, he should never smoke or even think about doing it but he suddenly felt like having just one last cigarette today. He wanted to light up a smoke.
He patted his pocket—of course, it was empty.
Twain chewed his lip.
Although he would return to the stadium in the future, it would be impossible for him to return as a head coach. Upon leaving, would he still have feelings for this position? Twain discovered that he did not have any. Maybe it was because the feelings he had for this stadium were too shallow due to the short history. If it were the stadium in the city, perhaps he would feel otherwise. Back when the city stadium was about to be demolished, he even specifically drove back to see it one last time, going so far as to meet Kenny Burns during the sunset and chat with him for a while.
Now in this modern and beautiful stadium, there was no way he could develop similar feelings.
He remembered the first time he came there. He always gave “the smell of history” a snort of contempt. He had thought it was a term for outdated things, hence he looked down on the old infrastructure and artifacts in the club. Little did he know that one day, he would be the one reminiscing about those “outdated antiques”.
It must be because he had become as old as those old antiques.
Since the outdated and backward were about to leave the stage, retiring during this time would not count as humiliating, right?
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By the time Twain returned to the changing room, the players were already preparing to leave for the game under assistant Kerslake’s instructions. Twain was waiting by the entrance of the changing room as he tapped their shoulders, sending them into the field.
There was not much difference between the first and second halves. Although Mourinho wanted his team to strengthen their offense, Nottingham Forest’s defense was still secure as ever. However, Nottingham Forest still continued to use the long passes just like in the first half to harass the defense of Manchester United, not allowing them to press forward as easily.
As time went on, Manchester United’s attack began to wane because they felt that even if they got a draw in the end, the league championship would still be theirs.
A draw was in fact what Manchester United wanted as a result— what was a victory over Nottingham Forest against the championship? However, on the side of Mourinho, it was an outcome that he could not accept. Even dismissing how dangerous this mindset of aiming a draw was, it was a personal feud. Mourinho would definitely not allow his team to draw against Nottingham Forest.
Twain was retiring after directing this game. If it ended in a draw, wouldn’t that mean that he had never been able to beat Twain?
That was not going to happen!
Mourinho rose from the manager’s seat as he shouted over the cheers of the Nottingham Forest fans. He wanted his team to strengthen offense, sending both midfielders in the attack.
Mourinho was not happy with the prospect of a draw and the Nottingham Forest players were unhappy with the scoreless tie.
Mitchell was in a good unguarded position but Balotelli did not see this. Instead, the latter chose to shoot the ball himself at the goalmouth and missed. Mitchell could not stand Balotelli’s actions as he complained loudly, “What are you doing? My position is far better, can’t you see?”
Balotelli ignored him. He only shook his head and regretted that he had missed an opportunity.
His attitude has upset Mitchell. Balotelli’s relationships with other people within the team had always been average. As he wanted to walk forward and argue with Balotelli, Wood pulled him back.
“That bastard! Doesn’t he know that we need to pull ahead and score to win?” Mitchell complained to Wood.
“You don’t have to be the one to bring up the issue,” Wood pointed at the side of the field. Mitchell gave a look and fell quiet.
They all saw the head coach rise from his seat and walk to the side of the field.
In the next second, they heard Twain scream.
“Mario! What are you doing?! You should pass the ball!” His voice could still be heard even in such a noisy environment. It really made people suspect he had a loudspeaker within his body. “Pass, pass, pass! Pass the ball to your teammates who are in better positions! You are no longer a child, you don’t need me to teach you this kind of stuff!”
In fact, he roared loudly the players were not able to hear clearly what he was saying, but the words expressed an attitude–their boss was very angry!
Balotelli was not well-liked within the team. He did not give face even to George Wood but he was respectful to Twain. Seeing how Twain was angry, he immediately knew it was because he did not pass but instead chose to shoot.
Therefore, he waved his hand towards Twain, indicating that he would definitely do better next time…
Only after this did Twain return to his coaching seat and sat down.
This little detail delighted the narrator, Mortensen.
“Tony is still the king here, though he didn’t mean to show it. But if the always unruly Balotelli looked tame under his instruction, no one would suspect otherwise.”
Balotelli, who had just been reprimanded by Twain, became more humble. Once he had other chances, he always passed the ball and did not dare to play the game on his own.
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There was really nothing much to talk about in this last match. Nevertheless, for the Manchester United fans, it was intense and unnerving.
As the second half of the game time faded, there were more and more exciting scenes. Perhaps due to the mood of the two coaches, the two teams started to become more competitive.
Wonderful shots began to appear, and of course, more wonderful saves also happened from time to time. It must have been a pleasure for the neutral fans.
However, despite the excitement, the score was still 0:0. No one was able to score a goal.
During that time, Nottingham Forest hit the post once, while Manchester United hit the crossbar once. Both teams seemed to have bad luck.
The match time passed quickly after the exciting offenses back and forth between the two teams.
It looked like this match was about to end with a 0:0 score.
If that were the case, the Manchester United people would be thrilled, because it would mean they had successfully secured the championship. Only Mourinho would be unsatisfied because he would no longer have the chance to win over Tony Twain…
