Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
Nottingham Forest brought back a goal from the away game. The Forest team already had the psychological upper hand for the second leg of the competition.
Twain obviously still had some remembrances. He recalled that this season, Arsenal had relied on defensive counterattacks to eliminate Villarreal with a total score of 1:0 from the two rounds, and then advanced into the Champions League final. It was the first time in their club history.
But for his own benefit, he had to brutally wipe out the most brilliant Champions League results in the Arsenal club history.
It must be Nottingham Forest that would go to the finals!
But before they could advance into the finals, there was still one thing that Twain needed to worry about.
“Dunn, what kind of work are you mainly responsible for on the youth team now?”
“Foundation training.”
Hearing his answer, Twain snapped his fingers. “That’s fantastic. Can you come over to my side after practice tomorrow?”
“What’s the matter?”
“I’m going to ask you to help me train someone. Starting from scratch and practicing from the basics.”
Dunn guessed who it was. “George Wood.”
“Yes, him.”
“But.…” Dunn recalled Wood’s performance in the youth team, “His basic foundation has always been good.”
“That depends on which areas his basics are. I want you to help me practice his shooting. It’s not about whether he can shoot into the goal. I want him to at least get seven out of ten shots within range of the goal posts.”
“Okay, but that’s not something that can be done in one or two months.”
“It’s all right. Either way, you’re going to transfer to the First Team next season. Just treat it as if you’ve started work early.”
Dunn was somewhat shocked to hear Twain’s remark. Previously, Twain had not told him that he would be transferred to the First Team coaching unit so soon.
“Oh. I forgot to tell you.” Twain remembered when he saw Dunn’s expression. He scratched his head and said, “I’ve decided to transfer you to the First Team coaching unit next season to help me. We don’t have enough manpower. The team lineup is expanding day by day and I need more coaches. What’s the matter?” asked Twain when he saw that Dunn did not say anything.
“I didn’t expect it. That’s all.”
“How come you didn’t expect it? Why did I find you in Chengdu in the first place? Wasn’t it so that you could come here and partner with me? I’ll never find a person who has such a rapport and can work as well with me as you can in the whole world. Only you, Dunn.”
Dunn looked up at Twain. “Do you really think so?”
Twain nodded without hesitation.
“All right.”
Seeing Dunn agree, Twain had a smile on his face.
“You’re really meticulous when it comes to Wood.”
“Fate brought him and me together.”
※※※
The next day, Twain had Wood stay behind after practice.
The players chuckled and walked past Wood in groups of three or more. Some of them even winked at him. Everyone knew that Twain asked Wood to stay back for extra practice, which was an extracurricular activity that everyone disliked.
Wood stood where he was and looked at his teammates walking past him with a placid expression. He considered additional practice to be a recreational activity that he enjoyed.
When everyone was gone, Twain brought Dunn to the field.
“I don’t have to introduce you both, seeing you know each other.”
Wood had not expected for the person training him to not be Twain, but Dunn. He stared blankly for a moment.
“What? You haven’t met for half a month and suddenly you don’t know him?” Twain teased Wood.
“No… What are we practicing?” Wood shook his head.
“Well, you’ll practice shooting.” Twain surprised Wood for a moment.
“George, do you know why you could shoot within the range of the goalpost during the game against Arsenal?” Twain asked.
Wood carefully considered it for a moment. He no longer remembered what it felt like when he had shot at that time. All he knew was that he was very happy, and nothing beyond that.
Twain shrugged and turned to look at Dunn.
“You still don’t know why you can shoot the football within range, George,” Dunn said. “Just give it a shot again.” He kicked a football over and then pointed to the goal in front of him.
Wood stopped the football and took a few steps back so that he could sprint and run up. He lifted his thigh and swung to kick, and volleyed.
Twain and Dunn looked up at the football that flew towards the horizon, and Twain whistled.
“All right, I’m pretty sure that the shot he made in that game was a lucky shot.” Twain patted Dunn on the shoulder. “I’ll leave you to it.”
Dunn stepped forward and got hold of Wood. “George, shooting doesn’t require the strength of the entire body. Besides, why are the tips of your toes sticking up? Do you still remember how you practiced shooting on the youth team?”
Wood shook his head. “I didn’t practice shooting on the youth team.”
Twain explained to Dunn, “When he first came, he said he wanted to be a striker. So, I put him on the front line and the coaches trained him as they would a striker. But it soon became apparent that he was not cut out to be a striker at all. I made him a defensive midfielder, and they never trained him to shoot again.”
After listening to Twain’s explanation, Dunn shook his head helplessly. “And the youth team manager at the time was David Kerslake?”
Twain nodded.
Dunn did not say anything. He turned to look at Wood and said, “Let’s start from scratch. George, this training is going to be long and repetitive. There are no shortcuts. Are you sure you want to practice?”
Wood turned to look at Twain standing at the side, and then said to Dunn, “Demetrio hopes I can be a player like him.”
Without waiting for Dunn to open his mouth, Twain spoke first. “Let’s put aside other people’s expectations first. George, what do you want to be? Do you want to keep playing in the midfield engineer position, or make some changes? I’m not going to force you to do something you don’t like. A simple midfield engineer is also very important to the team. It’s remarkable to play to your best in that regard.”
Wood bowed his head and pondered for a moment. Then he looked up and said, “I think… I like the feeling of shooting and being involved in the offense.”
Twain exhaled. That should to be Wood’s real thinking.
“Good. Starting today, you’ll practice half an hour with Dunn every day after training, and we’ll do other offensive drills for you during your usual training as well.”
Wood nodded.
“Let’s get started, Dunn.” Twain patted Dunn on the shoulder and backed away. He could not meddle with that kind of training. He was not good at running it. The coaching staff were in charge of it in the First Team. However, he could take this opportunity to take a closer look at Dunn’s training and have a more direct understanding before he was transferred to the First Team. In fact, this was the first time he had watched Dunn train a player up close.
Wood was very cooperative with Dunn. He was not as stubborn as he was when he had first come here. Dunn was also very patient, more patient than the average person. No matter how outrageous Wood’s shots were, he did not show any impatience. He repeatedly explained to Wood the main focal points he needed to pay attention to during shooting. He also broke down one of the simplest and most basic shooting moves and demonstrated it bit by bit for Wood to see. He just did it over and over again until the sun had set.
“Okay! We’ve exceeded the time!” Twain raised his hands and pointed at his watch. He’d lost track of the time while watching the training. In reality, the course of the training was rather boring and monotonous; but Twain was riveted.
Soaked in sweat, George Wood simply took off his jacket in the setting sun. With his arms bared, he kept shooting at the goal, again and again, repeating the simplest action. Dunn blew the whistle repeatedly but did not reprimand him.
That was not something Twain would be able to do, as he was not a very patient person. Seeing Wood like this, he probably would have resorted to foul language by now. Why the hell are you so stupid? This is the simplest and most basic, it’s an action that can’t be any simpler or more basic!
However, Dunn did not do that. There were no emotional fluctuations in his speaking tone, no disappointment or joy.
Hearing Twain’s shout, Dunn stopped training and calmly said to the wheezing Wood, “We’ll continue tomorrow, George.”
“Ok… sure.” Wood gasped for air as he replied.
“Go home, George. Send my regards to your mother.” Twain and Dunn said goodbye to Wood at the gate, each walking in a different direction.
“This is the first time I’ve seen Wood gasping to speak after training. I didn’t think there was a lot of training…” Twain said Dunn on their way home.
“Doing the same action over and over again will make people feel tired.”
“Is there really only one move?”
Dunn nodded.
“Not bad; train that boy well and try to drill him every day until he collapses! By the way, do you think he has a gift in that area?”
Dunn shook his head. “So far, not yet.”
“Well…” Twain muttered to himself for a long time. “Take it slow, we still have one more year.”
“A year? Oh, Albertini.”
“I have to make full preparations.”
The two men walked side by side into the distance.
※※※
Wood’s training program went on every day, rain or shine. It was not as if Twain was deliberately trying to make Wood to become King Muscle. It was simply because he did not have much time. It was time for Albertini to retire next season. If Wood could not produce any results at that point and his performance on the field was still as green as it was in the last two games, Twain would give up the idea and focus on finding a replacement for Albertini in the summer transfer market.
However, at that time, it would be another thing to be able to find the right player. Twain did not want to think too much right now. He still had about a year until then.
As the game drew closer, the media that gathered in Nottingham also increased. Some wanted to see if Arsenal could make their first historic entry to the Champions League finals, and others wanted to see if the leading dark horse in this tournament, Nottingham Forest, would be a dark horse to the end.
This was an English civil war, but it attracted the media’s attention in countries outside of England, too. The Catalonian and Spanish media wanted to see which team would become Barcelona’s opponents in the finals, and the Italian and Milan media wanted to immediately know which team AC Milan’s opponents would be.
Would it be Arsenal or Nottingham Forest?
It would be revealed in three days’ time.
※※※
Between those two Champions League matches, the Forest team would welcome Manchester United in a league game at home. To encounter an opposing team which was close at its heels at this juncture was really unfortunate.
“It’s very simple; there’s nothing difficult about it.” Facing the miserable-looking Kerslake, Twain discussed their planning arrangement and schedule with the coaching unit in his office. “We give up the game against Manchester United.”
The members of the coaching unit all looked at him.
“Some of you must think that I’ve given up the Premier League tournament, right?” No one answered. Even if they really thought so, they could not voice it.
Twain smiled a little. “I’m glad we have Manchester United at this point, and not any other team. The reason is simple. In order to win the Champions League, we are incapable of giving our best for that game in between two semi-final matches. It’s almost certain that we have to abandon it. If we are destined to lose, I think losing to Manchester United is better than losing to any other team. Right now, Manchester United is four points behind us. Even if they beat us, we’re still one point ahead of them.” Twain put up his index finger. “This one point is very important. There are still two rounds left in the league. Who are our next opponents?” He looked at Kerslake.
As the assistant manager, he needed to answer. “Middlesbrough and Sunderland, and both are away games.”
Upon hearing that answer, the coaches in the office laughed and the atmosphere relaxed at once.
Middlesbrough was the team that Nottingham Forest worried least about. The Forest team knew how to play Middlesbrough very well, whereas Middlesbrough seemed to have a mental block when it came to Forest. The other opponent, Sunderland, was also not a threat. They had already been relegated with only twelve points for their thirty-five rounds in the league tournament. That was a terrible result, and their players were too dispirited to fight. They only wanted to finish the season early and go their separate ways.
Even though both matches were away games, it was not difficult for the Forest team to obtain six points.
That was why Twain said that. A game would be delayed in their preparations for the Champions League. The game that was delayed just happened to be the game against Manchester United, which was going to be lost. They did not need to worry about being distracted and upsetting their balance due to the intensive schedule and being forced to compete against Manchester United. That would be detrimental to them.
Everyone knew what Twain had in mind and no longer had any doubts about the arrangement.
“We will deploy our substitutes for this league game. The main force can rest and go all out to prepare for the second leg of the Champions League semi-final.” Twain stood up and pressed his hands on his desk. He looked at his colleagues and clearly said, “We must advance to the finals!”
※※※
Everything went according to Twain’s plan. With the match against Manchester United coming up, Nottingham Forest boldly started to prepare for the second leg of the Champions League semi-final. They sent almost all of their substitutes so that they could give the vast majority of their main players a chance to rest.
For his part, Ferguson sent all of his main force and was very clear about his intention to win this away game. He must have known that Twain was bound to give up the game. Whether he could overtake the Forest team in the future or not, they must secure these three points in this game.
Ninety minutes later, Ferguson and Twain both got what they wanted.
Manchester United got the three points they wanted in this away game and narrowed their point difference with Nottingham Forest to just one point. That one-point gap could motivate them further.
And Tony Twain got the much-needed break at the expense of a game loss. At that moment, for the highest goal in the hearts of all the football club managers, he could not care too much anymore.
Would he be able to get what he truly wanted three days later?
